The Little Things
by dinosaurxrawrxo
Summary: Emily Prentiss left the BAU 10 years ago for personal reasons, the personal reason left her with a daughter. Emily decides to go back to the BAU. No one knows about her daughter or that the father is someone in the BAU. But they'll find out soon. AR.
1. Chapter 1: Time or Place

The Little Things – 01

**Summary: **Emily Prentiss left the BAU 10 years ago for personal reasons, the personal reason left her with a daughter. Emily decides to go back to the BAU. No one knows about her daughter or that the father is someone in the BAU. But they'll find out, soon enough.

**Authors Note: To clear things up, I'm just letting you know what this takes place PRESENT DAY (aka, 2011) because I don't like writing stories that are in the future, so just pretend that Emily was at the BAU 10 years ago please. It should clear things up. I know it sounds complicated and I thought about that, but it's just better if you don't focus on that little detail :]**

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**Please review!**

"I feel like I'm forgetting something!" Emily Prentiss sighed as she ran back and forth around her apartment, grabbing things and throwing them into her bag.

"Mom," her 10 year old daughter giggled as she took a bite of cereal. Emily stopped and looked at her. "Where's your FBI badge thingy?" she asked as she moved her spoon around in the cereal bowl.

"Darn it!" Emily said as she ran upstairs quickly and grabbed her ID and gun and put it in the holster on her hip before walking back down stairs. "Now," Emily let out a sigh of relief. "Are you all ready for school?" she asked as she dropped her bag off at the door, she nodded and said 'mhm!' as she took another bite. "Avery, I can not believe you have-" Emily said as she looked at the small animal on the granite counter, hesitating to say the name.

"Billybob." Avery smiled and giggled.

"_Billybob_," Emily said, still not believing her daughter named the hamster 'billybob', out of all the other names to name a hamster, she _had _to pick 'billybob'. "Avery, do you really think it's appropriate to have him on that _table _while you're _eating_? Or on the counter at all- I eat there too."

"I'll put him away." Avery said with a smile as she got up and walked towards the stairs.

"We have to leave when you get back down here Avery, I don't want you to be late on your first day of school!" Emily called as she let out a sigh and walked over to the cereal bowl that had no cereal left in it. She smiled and put it in the sink before taking a lunch bag out of the fridge.

"A lunch _bag_? C'mon mom, that's so forth grade." Avery said as she walked downstairs while putting her back pack on her back. Emily raised her eye brows.

"Avery that was _last _year."

"Things change mom. I'll take 3 bucks though." Avery said as she held her hand out, Emily raised her eyebrows and took 3 dollars out of her pocket and handed it to her. "Thanks mom, now c'mon! You don't wanna be late for _your _first day!" she said with a smile as she walked towards the door.

* * *

**x x x**

"Are you sure this is okay with you Avery? Me going back to the BAU... you know what the job involves and if you feel for one second that you don't-"

"_Mom_, I told you. I'm totally fine with it, it's what _you _want. I can't have you all to myself all the time, You told me that you could be gone for more than 3 days at a time a lot. I can live with that. Besides, I'll be staying with Kayla when you go away. I'll be like her sister." Avery said with a smile, which made Emily smile.

"Alright, go. Don't be late." Emily said, Avery smiled and un buttoned her seat belt and leaned forward to kiss her moms cheek. "Remember to give that note to the principle so you can go to Kayla's everyday!" Emily called after Avery, who shut the door and waved, telling her mom that she heard her. Emily sighed and watched her walk up the stairs. It was 7:45 and she had to be at work by 8, it's only a 15 minute drive, she was hoping she wouldn't be late on her first day back in _9_ years. She left when she was 3 months pregnant and starting to show.. Just thinking about how many years it's been made her realize how old she was, she was 30 when she left the BAU. 39 felt so old when you're thinking about your 10 year old daughter.

* * *

**x x x**

"Look who it is, arriving fashionably late, I see." Derek Morgan said with a smirk as Emily walked over to her desk, it was the same desk she had before and she figured it was her desk because there was her name tag on it again, Emily let out a sigh.

"Thanks, Morgan." she said as she let out a sigh. "I had to dr-" Emily stopped mid sentence, realizing what she was going to say. "I mean, I got stuck in traffic, I forgot how early I have to leave when I'm coming here." Emily corrected herself, he nodded slowly. "And by three minutes," Emily said as she looked at the time on her watch, Derek chuckled.

"Which you will be docked for." Aaron Hotchner said as he walked by, as if perfect timing. He looked up from a file and looked at Emily. "It's a pleasure to be working with you again, Prentiss." he said with a small nod and a slight, very slight, smile. Emily gulped covertly and nodded.

"You too, Hotch." she said with a nod, Hotch looked at her and then Derek before walking off to his office, Spencer Reid walked over with a cup of coffee in his hand. "Which number is that?" Emily asked as she raised her eyebrows and looked at Derek.

"4th," Derek said. "Maybe 5th."

"Very funny. It's my second." Spencer said as he sat down at his desk. "It's nice to see you back here, Emily." Spencer told her, Emily smiled.

"You too, Reid." she said with much more humor then she said to Hotch earlier.

"Hotch has some more case files for you," Derek said as Emily looked at the two on her desk, that was going to take no time at all, she knew she needed more. She looked up at him.

"Hotch does?" Emily dreaded that question, Derek nodded slowly as he opened one of his, Emily pushed her lips together and hesitated to get up and walk over to his office. She knocked on his door hesitantly.

"Come in." Hotch said, Emily opened the door slowly and looked at him.

"Morgan said you had some case files for me?"

"Yes," Hotch answered as he grabbed a pile of case files and got up to hand them to her.

"Thank you." Emily said as she turned away.

"Emily..." he said before she walked out, Emily turned to look at him.

"If you're going to ask me why I left just like you did _when _I was leaving... I'm going to give you the same answer I gave you when I did leave." Emily told him.

"I was going to ask why you didn't return my calls." Hotch told her in his normal voice, Emily looked at him.

"This isn't the time or place to be discussing this," Emily told him before she walked out of his office. Hotch sighed, although he really wanted to to talk to her about it, it wasn't the time or the place.

**I know it kinda sucks so far, but It'll get better, I promise :] Don't forget to review!**


	2. Chapter 2: Haunting

The Little Things – 02

**Authors Note: Thanks for all the reviews AND people who set this as an alert, and the people who favorited it. I really think you should check out the banner cuz it's adorable, I made it too :] It shows what Avery looks like. **

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**Just to clear things up, I have not heard of nor have I read a story called "Coming Back Home", this came to my attention in a review and I just wanted to clear that up, I am not stealing the idea, I didn't think any other story would be like this. Although, the idea is probably common, so I have NOT heard that story before :]**

**PS- I'm sorry it'll take me a few days(3-7) to update this story, I am SO sorry for the long waits.**

**I hope you enjoy this story, so PLEASE review so I know if you do! :]**

"See you tomorrow, Prentiss." Derek said as he put his bag over his shoulder, Emily smiled at him.

"You too Morgan." she said as she stood up and put her bag over her shoulder.

"Bye Emily." Spencer said before walking away with Derek, Emily smiled and quickly organized her desk before leaving. She walked towards the door, then heard her name being called, she turned around slowly to see Hotch walking over.

"Emily," he said as he got over to her. "We should talk..." he found himself say, he usually wasn't so up front about anything, but he was just so eager to talk. Emily's eyes widened for a second, because she was shocked that he said that.

"What? Uh, when..?" Emily asked, even though she just wanted to leave it the way it was, but she would have been stupid to think that they could pretend nothing happened. Hotch was stubborn and wouldn't let it go, Emily was stubborn and didn't want to talk about it, ever. But it wouldn't be fair for her to be completely selfish. God, if she only thought _this _through she might not even be back at the BAU.

"I was hoping tonight, we could get a drink." he said, Emily pushed her lips together and looked at the floor and opened her mouth, hesitating to say what she was about to.

"I-I can't tonight." she answered, Hotch's face fell. "We will talk though." she told him. "I have to go though..." she said as she turned to walk away and walked out to the elevator. "Can you be any more ridiculous?" Emily mumbled to herself as she pressed the button.

**x x x**

Emily woke up to her cellphone blaring on the night stand table. It was nearly 5am, only an hour before she normally woke up for work when she went to the BAU. She looked at her phone and groaned, that extra hour of sleep would have been great if she didn't just get a text for a case they had to go on. It was just like the old days, except she was thankful she didn't get a text at 2am. She made it in the BAU by 6:45am, after dropping Avery off at her friends house.

"I'm not late, Am I?" Emily asked as she sat down with a coffee cup in her hand, Spencer and Rossi were the only two in the room.

"You're here before Morgan," Spencer said, right as Derek walked in.

"And I'm not late." he said with a smile as he sat down next to Emily. Hotch walked in the room while looking down at the case file. "What we got, Hotch?" Derek asked.

"Two women have been rapped and murdered in Crescent, Iowa and Plattsmouth, Nebraska. It was brought to my attention because of this." Hotch said as he pressed the button on the computer that was set up to the board and two pictures showed up.

"He's cutting off their ring fingers?" Emily said in shock as she looked at the pictures.

"The left hand?" Spencer asked, Hotch nodded. "The significance of that is the unsub is most likely tying it to marriage, it says here each of the victims were married." Spencer said as he read. "It's possible that he is recently divorced or his wife said he wanted a divorce, which could be the reason he started killing."

"The way he beats the women shows no remorse, he must be pretty pissed about somethin'." Derek said as he leaned back in his chair.

"These murders are 2 days apart and the body of Charise Witman was found less than an hour ago, which is 23 hours after she was murdered, we have 25 hours before another women is murdered." Hotch said as he stood up. "Wheels up in 10."

**x x x**

"Prentiss and I will go to the crime scene," Hotch said, Emily's eyes widened to herself. _What is he trying to do? Get us alone? _"Morgan and Rossi talk to the detective and work victimology, Reid-"

"I'll create a geographical profile." Hotch nodded and walked towards the car, Emily looked at Spencer before leaving and followed Hotch to the car, she got in and shut the door. Emily looked out the window as he pulled away. She kept thinking the same thing: _this is so awkward._

"Jack's 16 now?" Emily asked, she'd been wondering about how Jack was doing it's been ten years and he's 16 now, it shocked her to think about it. It _shocked _her to think about the fact that she actually had a 10 year old _daughter._

"Yes," Hotch said as he nodded.

"Is he doing well in high school?" she asked after a few more seconds of silence, she wasn't even sure if she should be _making _small talk on the job. Before she left, _and before she got pregnant, _things were easier. They _had _the occasional small talk on the job and flirted, quite a bit.

"Yes, he is very diligent, the worst grade he brought home was an 89, which is still phenomenal." he said, Emily smiled, then her smile fell when she thought about it. She _missed _Jack, she used to spend time with him a lot. That was the worst part about leaving the way she did, Jack was only 6 when she left and it took a toll on him.

"Wow," Emily said with a smile. "He's growing up to be a mini Hotch." Emily said with a bit of humor in her voice, the corner of Hotch's mouth turned up slightly without realizing it, then he quickly returned his face to his lips normal position as he pulled up to the crime scene. They both got out and walked under the caution tape and into the house. "There's no sign of force entry," Emily pointed out as they walked through the door.

"The unsub either knew the victim or knocked on the door in the middle of the night to get the victim to open the door," Hotch said as they walked into the living room and a small table with a lamp on it that was knocked over, pictures from the wall knocked down and pictures where the glass was cracked, where a blood mark was.

"She put up quite a fight," Emily observed as they looked at all the indication of it. After they examined the crime scene they went back to the police department where Spencer was, he put points on a map where the murders took place and used a red maker to write where he should live if he was staying close to his geographical profile, Emily walked over to him while Hotch went somewhere else, Derek and Rossi were also in the room, sitting at the table.

"What did you get?" Emily asked as she looked at him.

"The unsub is most likely in the area inside the red," Spencer said, Emily nodded.

"Morgan, Rossi, I need you to come with me." Hotch said as he walked into the room, everyone gave him a weird look, wondering what he was worked up about. "They discovered a body in Tabor, Iowa, same M.O." Hotch said as Derek and Dave followed him out, Spencer looked at the map again.

"What?" Emily asked because of his intense staring.

"What do all these counties have in common?" Spencer said as he circles them in red, then drew lines out to a center road that connected each of them.

"Interstate 29." Emily said as she looked down the line.

**x x x**

They were on the plane two days, going home from the case after catching the unsub that did it, which was pretty quick for cases like that, when the unsub is on the move as quickly as he was.

"How was school? Did you pass your spelling test?" Emily asked as she poured herself some coffee, she was talking to Avery behind the curtain, Derek was listening to music, Dave and Spencer were playing cards and Hotch was finishing up some reports.

"Yes! I got a 94. I spelt misconception wrong, but I got 3 extra points for spelling the bonus right, knowledgeable. I was the only one in the class that got it right! Besides Jackson, but he's a know-it-all anyway."

"Wow, Avery, that's great. I'm so proud of you! You know what that means?" Emily asked her.

"What?" Avery asked with a smile on her face.

"We get to go out to your favorite ice cream place when I get back tonight, I should be there to pick you up around 7 or 7:30." Emily told her. "I can talk to JJ and see if she wants to come with us with Henry." It was Friday, anyway, so staying out late didn't really matter. Besides, it was the first time she was away from Avery on a case.

"Okay mom! I'll see you later! I can't wait!"

"Alright Avery," Emily said with a laugh as Derek walked back, he started to say 'hey' when he realized she was on the phone. "I'll see you later," Emily said in a lower voice.

"Bye!" Avery said as she hung up, followed by Emily as she put the phone in her pocket.

"Ooo, got a hot date tonight?" Derek asked as he poured himself a cup of coffee.

"It's not like that, at all." Emily said as she shook her head and grabbed her mug and walked past him.

**x x x**

"I'm glad you went back to the BAU and all, but you're going it alone. It's gonna be harder when you're away for weeks at a time." JJ said as they sat down.

"I know, but she said she was fine with it. She's staying with her best friend. I also told her to tell me if she ever gets sick of it. This isn't permanent, anyway. Strauss knows about the situation- _some _of it anyway and we made an arrangement where it's a semi-permanent thing. I'm signed up for 6 months and If I feel Avery or I can't handle it, I can always leave again." Emily explained, JJ nodded.

"Well I'm glad you know what you're doing." JJ said with a smile as they looked at Avery and Henry, Henry was now 12, almost 13. They decided to go to a pizza place with an arcade in it before ice cream, which the kids didn't mind, they were playing games. As long as the quarters kept coming, they were happy. "They're so cute," JJ laughed as she took a sip of her drink, Emily laughed.

"Yeah, Avery has the most adorable crush on Henry," Emily laughed. "Every time I say we're going to hang out she gets really excited." JJ and Emily laughed and smiled at their kids playing, JJ turned towards Emily.

"Okay, so this has been haunting me," Emily looked at her. "Did you and Hotch talk?"


	3. Chapter 3: Garcia's Hacking Skills

The Little Things – 03

**Authors Note: I'll start by saying THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE REVIEWS! :] I updated faster than normal... I'm 3 reviews short from the last chapter, I hope you're still intrested.**

**And now I'll answer this question I got, regarding Rossi and his age. I never really thought that through, it didn't even cross my mind! But just say he's like 55 now or something :]**

**And for everyone else's ages, I'll make Emily 39, Hotch around 43 or so. Derek around 40, Spencer will be around 35, Penelope will be around 35 also. And JJ will be 36. :] Clears things up?**

**I put their ages like that because I didnt want them to be too old. Please don't make a huge deal about it, it's NOT that big of a deal..**

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**I hope you enjoy this and PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE review! :]**

"What?" Emily asked as she gave JJ a confused look. "Did we _talk_?"

"Yes, Emily. Did you and Hotch talk." JJ told her with a nod, Emily nodded slowly.

"Yes, we did talk. We work together, it's hard not to JJ." Emily said as she took a sip of her drink and looked off in the direction of Avery and Henry, trying to seem like she wasn't paying attention, but that was stupid to do when it came to JJ, JJ could care less if you looked un intrested.

"Sooo..." JJ said as she put her hands up, Emily glanced as her and but the glass back on the table.

"So?"

"SO what did you talk about?" JJ said in a 'duh' tone, Emily raised her eyebrows.

"The way the victim was murdered." Emily told her with a nod. JJ raised her eyebrows.

"Okay," JJ scoffed, Emily nodded and took another sip.

"Mom! I almost got 300 tickets! Can I have some more money?"Henry said as he rushed over to JJ, Avery finding close behind, JJ sighed and grabbed her wallet and looked in it.

"This is all I have. You better share it with Avery, Henry." JJ said as she handed her son a twenty.

"Thanks mom!" he said as he turned around.

"Henry."

"I know, I know." Henry said as he ran away with the money, Emily laughed and shook her head.

"300 tickets for 40 bucks," JJ said with a groan.

"Here," Emily said as she reached in her purse.

"Are you kidding, Em? No way." JJ said as she crossed her arms and leaned back, nudging Emily with her foot lightly. "Now, come on. You are not telling me everything."

"I so am." Emily said as she took a sip, JJ raised her eyebrows and gave Emily the 'Henry, Don't you dare look', or in this case, the 'Emily, don't you dare' look. "Fine," Emily sighed as she placed her drink on the table and sighed, JJ smirked and Emily looked at her. "It's not exciting, at all. But I said 'Jack's 16 now?' and he said 'yes', then I asked how he's doing in high school, Hotch said Jack's a very diligent worker and the lowest grade he brought home was an 89, which is not low at all. And I said 'He's growing up to be a mini Hotch', which is completely lame.. I know." Emily told her, JJ smiled and sat up.

"That's not lame! You guys are talking!" JJ sounded ecstatic. Emily nodded.

"Yeah, well we're not talking about the things we should be talking about." Emily said with a sigh, even though she was glad that's the way it was.

"It's a start though, Em." JJ said, Emily looked at Avery again.

"I just can't imagine what it's like to grow up without a father... and just the thought that it's _me _that keeping Avery from that."

"It's not _you_, Emily. You did what you thought was right at the time and what you have right now is a second chance. You can choose to take it." JJ said, Emily looked at her.

"That was very inspirational, did you get it from a fortune cookie?" Emily asked, not in a way of making fun of her, and JJ understood that, she shook her head.

"Shut up, Em."

**x x x**

"How was your date Friday night?" Derek said as he walked over to Emily as she was getting a cup of coffee. Emily looked at him. Derek thought Emily was pulling a fast one on him and Emily realized it.

"It was great!" Emily said with a smile. "Yeah, we went to a pizza place with an arcade." Derek raised his eyebrows. "I hung out with JJ and Henry." she said as she walked away.

"Em, so you were on a date with JJ. I don't judge you." Derek said as he sat down, with a smirk, Emily shook her head and rolled her eyes, Spencer looked up at the two of them, he caught the wrong end of that conversation.

"Yeah, and Will's totally fine with it." Emily said, sarcastically of course.

"I bet," Derek said with a smirk, Emily rolled her eyes.

"Have I told you you're a pig lately?" Emily asked him as she flipped through the paper.

"I believe it was _more _than 10 years ago my dear Emily." Derek told her.

"Oh," Emily said and nodded. "Well, you're a pig." she said with a smile, Derek chuckled and shook his head.

"I just heard the wrong end of that conversation." Spencer said, Emily looked at him.

"I'm not dating JJ. Morgan's just an idiot."

**x x x**

"I mean you disappeared for 10 years, the least I should get is an explanation, Emily." Penelope Garcia continued her long rant as they walked through the city of Quantico at the _lunch break _that was more like a _almost dinner break_, seeing is that it was 4:30 p.m., Emily was swamped with work, and Penelope wanted to get lunch with Emily because they haven't seen each other in a while. "And the only time we ever saw each other was JJ's parties, I'm not mad, Em, I would just like-"

"An explanation, I know Garcia."

"And would you quit with the Garcia, I know it's a lot easier to say and has less syllables then Penelope, but we're not on the job right now. _Emily._" Penelope put emphasis on her name to show that _she _doesn't call _her _Prentiss when they're not on the job, usually when she calls her Prentiss it's only when they're on the case, and hardly even then.

"Sorry, _Penelope_. Force of habit." Emily apologized, Penelope raised her eyebrows as they walked into the head quarters of the FBI, flashing their badges to the security guard. "And I can tell you the explanation _when _I have it all figured out. I don't even know where to begin to be honest." Emily explained as they went into the elevator. Penelope nodded.

"Derek told me you had a date Friday night," Penelope said, Emily looked at her and laughed. "What?"

"It was not a _date _I went to eat with JJ and Henry at the Pizza Arcade." Emily said, Penelope laughed.

"Wow, Derek get's a little to ahead of himself." Penelope said as they walked out of the elevator.

"Tell me about it." Emily said as she opened the glass doors. "You coming in here or going to your office?" Penelope thought for a minute.

"We have 15 more minutes til we're supposed to be back," Penelope said with a shrug. "Sure." Emily smiled and held the door open before walking over to her desk and setting her coffee cup down.

"How did you get in here, anyway? What are you? Eight? You could have a bomb in your backpack for all the security guard knows." Derek said as he walked over to his desk.

"I'm _ten_ for your information." Emily froze in her spot and hesitated to turn around, when she did she almost screamed.

"_Avery_." Emily said in a condescending way, Penelope looked at Emily and then the girl, and Derek looked up to Emily, Avery looked at her mom and looked very guilty.

"You know her?" Derek asked, Emily nodded.

"Yeah, uh, I do." Emily said as she walked over to Avery. "I'll be right back." she said as she grabbed onto Avery's arm and pulled her into a different room, she didn't pull her hard though. "Avery, _what _are you doing here? _How _did you get here? You told me this was okay with you _yesterday_. Do Kayla's parent's know where you are?"

"Mom, calm down."

"Avery, you are asking me to calm down, you're ten and you show up at my work when you're supposed to be over Kayla's!" Emily said, she didn't mean to raise her voice.

"I don't wanna go there anymore mom! Kayla's brother Jake said something mean to me and Kayla laughed..." Avery said, Emily calmed down almost instantly when she said that.

"What did he say to you?" Emily asked, Jake was 14 and started to have a mouth on him, he cursed in front of them once and she didn't like it.

"He called me something mean, I don't wanna get in trouble for saying it." Avery said as she looked down, Emily sighed and knelt down to eye level with her.

"If you tell me, you wont get in trouble. But I need to know so I can talk to his mother about it and so that it wont happen again, okay?" Emily asked, Avery nodded.

"He called me a bastard because I didn't grow up with a dad." she said in a low voice, Emily was shocked and didn't know what to say, this has never come up before, but she knew itmight, _eventually_. Emily sighed.

"Well I'm sorry he said that and it was uncalled for, I'll take you back-"

"No, mom, please don't make me go back there." Avery begged, Emily let out a sigh.

"Stay _right _here. I'll be back in _5 _minutes." Emily told her before walking away, taking her phone out and calling JJ, after she got off the phone with her she walked over to Hotch's office and knocked on the door.

"Come in." he said, Emily walked in and looked at Hotch.

"Uhm, I have to go take care of something personal... it should only take about a half hour..." Emily said, Hotch looked at her then outside and saw a the little girl he saw with her a few moments ago, standing by the glass doors, Hotch then looked back at her.

"Just make sure you're back by 5:30, we're going to debrief for an hour." Hotch told her, Emily nodded.

"Thanks, Hotch." she said before walking out and over to grab her car keys.

"Where are you going?" Penelope asked, Emily looked up.

"Uh, I have to drop Avery off at my friends." Emily said before running off with Avery, Penelope looked at Derek. Penelope just figured that Avery was her friends kid, Derek shrugged it off. Hotch didn't, he walked out of his office.

"Whose that girl?" Hotch asked Penelope from behind her, Penelope jumped and looked at him.

"I-I was just getting back to work, sir."

"You're on lunch, it's fine." Hotch said. "But I think your hacking skills may be of assistance to me..."


	4. Chapter 4: Catching Up

The Little Things – 04

**Authors Note: So here is part number 4! I hope you liked the last part AND I even hope you like this part :]**

**Thanks for the reviews and PLEASE review :] LET ME KNOW HOW I'M DOING! :]**

**This is taking place in 2011, just so you're not confused! I said that in the first chapter!**

"My hacking skills?" Penelope asked as she sat down at her desk.

"Yes, I need you to find out who that girl is." Hotch said, Penelope looked at him.

"Well I can tell you her name is Avery..." Penelope said, Hotch looked at her. "Right, you want to know _who _she is." Penelope said as she hacked onto the security cameras and got her picture. "Cross-reference this picture with children living in the Washington D.C. area that are then years old and you've got Avery-" Penelope paused as she saw the name, Hotch looked at her. "-Prentiss. Date of Birth April 3, 2000... Emily left October 1999..." Penelope spoke, Hotch gritted his teeth and stood up straight.

"Thank you Garcia," he said before leaving the room. _This is NOT happening._

**x x x**

"Thank you JJ, you are a lifesaver." Emily said as she dropped Avery off.

"No problem, Em. What actually happened?" JJ asked as she shut the door behind Emily, it was 4:45, she could stay there until 5 and be back by 5:30.

"Kayla's brother, Jake, called Avery a bastard." Emily said as JJ handed her a bottle of water. "I'll tell you one thing, when I get my hands on that little twerp I'll ring his neck." she said as she watched Avery run out to the deck with Henry. "She's really torn up about it, I don't think she'll want to go back.. I can't make her do that. Kayla laughed at her, too. I don't want her be friends with someone like that, ya know.." Emily said as she took a sip, JJ nodded.

"Well, If you don't want her going back, I totally understand, I wouldn't want her to go back either." JJ said. "She can stay here if you'd like, Henry sure likes her." JJ said with a smile, Emily almost choked on her water and her eyes widened, JJ laughed. "Henry goes to daycare after school everyday, then either I or Will picks him up. It's a great daycare, I think Avery would love it." JJ told her, Emily looked at her, still shocked.

"I couldn't ask you to do that, I-"

"You don't have to _ask_, I'd do it anyway, even if I wasn't her godmother." JJ said, Emily looked at her.

"That's a great gesture," Emily said as she let out a sigh. "Thank you."

"No problem," JJ said as they looked at Avery and Henry out on the deck, looking at the view.

"Well, as much as I'd _love _to stay and chat, I've gotta get back to work before Hotch has my head." Emily said as she stood up.

"Maybe if you're late he'll yell at you and you'll end up sleeping together." JJ said, Emily squinted her eyes and looked at her.

"You have quite the imagination there, Jayje." Emily said as she hugged her. "I will pick Avery up around 7."

"Okay, text me if something happens." JJ said, Emily raised her eyebrows. "Like, if you're running late or start a case." JJ said in a 'duh' tone. "You, my dear, have quite the imagination." Emily rolled her eyes before saying 'bye' to Avery and then Henry, then she was on her way. She called and talked to Kayla's mother to thank her, even though they were friends, not so much after that conversation because Kayla's mother said that Avery was just being sensitive. That really pissed Emily off. She got into work at 5:45 because that _conversation _went a little longer then she thought it would.

"Someone's in trouble." Derek sang as she walked into the conference room.

"What are you talking about?" Emily asked as she sat down . "Where's Reid?"

"Personal time." Derek told her.

"And Rossi?"

"It's a waste of time." Derek said, Emily nodded slowly.

"Well, that sounds like Rossi."

"Now that we're all _here_," Hotch said as he walked in the room. "Where's Rossi?"

"Where do you think?" Derek asked, Hotch just read of something in the case, that's what the debriefing was. They came up with profiles or ways for the Police Department to catch the killer. Which took them about 45 minutes.

"Good job. I will see you tomorrow at 8." Hotch said as he closed a file and put it into a pile. "Can I see you in my office in 5 minutes?" Hotch asked as he looked at Emily, Emily looked at him, caught off-guard and nodded.

"Yeah," she said as he walked out, Emily sighed and walked over to her desk.

"Wanna grab a drink? Pen and I are gonna go." Derek said, Emily shook her head.

"No thanks. You and Penelope have fun though." Emily said, Derek nodded.

"Alright, I get it. You have another date with JJ." Derek said, Emily glared at him and he chuckled before walking away, Emily shook her head and sighed. _Oh right._ She thought when she remembered Hotch asked to see her, she walked over to his office and peaked her head in the door.

"Hotch.." she said.

"Emily, come in." he said, Emily was taken off guard by the used of her name. "Can you shut the door if you don't mind." Emily shut the door before walking in and over to his desk.

"What did you need to see me for..?" Emily asked, she suddenly felt uncomfortable, even thought she felt slight discomfort before, this was worse.

"I wanted to know if you could have that drink tonight." Hotch said as he rose to his feet, Emily took a step back without meaning to. She immediately tried to play it off once she realize she did.

"Uhm... can I get back to you in a couple minutes on that..." she said as she took another step back and turned around before Hotch could say anything, she pulled her phone out of her pocket and went over to where the coffee usually was as she dialed JJ's number and put it to her ear.

"Well, well Miss Emily, how may I help you on this fine evening? Gonna make me watch Avery longer?" JJ asked as she answered the phone after seeing Emily's name on the caller ID and then she joked, Emily let out a sigh, JJ realized that it's what she was going to do. "I don't mind, Em. What's up? I know that sigh."

"And you said you had no interest in being a profiler." Emily said nonchalantly.

"Em, I don't have to be a profiler to tell that that sigh was a cry for help. Tell me."

"That's an interesting way to put it,"

"Emily." JJ snapped. She was only wasting time and trying to put it off, Emily groaned.

"Hotch asked me out for a drink, and _not _as a date. To catch up." Emily sighed.

"So? Go for it chickie. I don't care watching Avery for a while longer, Will should be home soon. He's picking up cookie dough ice cream, Hen's favorite. Can Avery ear some?"

"If she wants, but she'll push for another helping, so say 'no'. And I don't know JJ, he asked me before and I don't know... I guess I'm not _ready _to talk about it. Any of it."

"Alright, Em. Well whatever you choose, we'll be here. And if you don't choose to go out for a drink, which I totally think you should, then you can have dinner here with us."

"Thank you for your kind gesture JJ." Emily said, JJ laughed.

"I really think you should." JJ told her. "For Avery's sake."

"I know," Emily sighed as she looked at her watch. "Well, I'll see you around 8."

"Good girl, Em. See you around 8." JJ said as she hung up, Emily let out a breath and put the phone back in her pocket. _You can do it, Emily. It's just catching up. You owe him big time anyway._

**x x x**

"I'm glad you're doing well, Emily." Hotch said as they walked back to their cars. He had been dying to know about Avery, but if he started grilling her, he knew she would just run away because that's the only way Emily knew how to deal with things. Emily knew she _had _ to tell him. But not now, she couldn't spring it on him.

"I'm glad you are too." Emily smiled. "Well I'll see you tomorrow then?" she asked, Hotch nodded.

"Don't be late." he said as he got into his car, Emily laughed as she got into hers. She arrived at JJ's house 15 minutes later and knocked on the door.

"A half hour late? You must have enjoyed yourself." JJ said as she opened the door.

"I'm sorry," Emily apologized.

"Don't you dare. I'm glad you had fun though. Now, tell me what you talked about." JJ said.

"Are you used you don't want me to get outta here? It's late.."

"I think we can spare a 10 minute talk," JJ said as she walked into the kitchen. "Em's here, Will." JJ said to Will as he shut the fridge with a beer in his hand.

"Hey Emily, long time no see."

"Hi Will." Emily smiled. "It's great to see you again." JJ gave Will a look, who understood he was being kicked out of the kitchen.

"Well, I'm gonna go watch tv. You ladies have a nice talk." Will said as he walked out. JJ smiled and opened the fridge when he was gone.

"Want anything?"

"Waters fine." Emily said as she sat down at the table, JJ handed her water before sitting down across from her, Emily raised her eyebrows when she saw the look on JJ's face. "I didn't tell him about Avery or anything.."

"That's understandable. I didn't think you would. I'm glad you didn't. Ease him, and yourself into the whole relationship thing again." JJ said, Emily's eyes widened. "Is Friendship a better word?" JJ asked, Emily nodded. "Okay, well the meaning of _relationship_ in that sentence is friendship, okay, Em? Don't be scared of that word."

"Shut up." Emily said as she took a sip of her water, JJ laughed.

**x x x**

"Hey Penelope.." Emily said as she walked in from the elevators.

"Hi." Penelope said quickly before walking into her office quickly, Emily squinted her eyebrows in confusion and shrugged it off as she walked into the office.

"He's here before 8. You owe me 15 bucks." Spencer said as Emily walked over to her desk, Emily groaned and looked at Derek, who was getting coffee.

"You so cheated." Emily groaned as she handed him 15 dollars.

"There were actually no requirements or rules. Just a simple bet. Next time you should set rules." Spencer said, Emily rolled her eyes.

"I'll get that back." Emily warned as she walked over to the coffee where Derek was slurring his. "Did Reid tell you to come in before 8?" Emily asked him.

"What? No way." Derek said with a chuckle, Emily scoffed and rolled her eyes as she poured herself some coffee. "He said he bet 10 dollars, so he gave me 5 of it." Derek said, Emily laughed and shook her head. "What?" he asked.

"Nothing." Emily said as she took a sip. "How's Penelope this morning?" she asked before walking away, she didn't want to be too obvious about the situation.

"She said she'd show me a good morning, so she's the same as she always is." Derek said before walking to his seat, Emily let out a sigh and set her coffee cup down and walked out of the glass doors over to Penelope's office. Emily didn't even knock, she was thinking to much about _what _could _possibly _be wrong that she'd be all reserved like that and not herself. Because that obviously wasn't her.

"You almost gave me a heart attack!" Penelope said as she swung her chair around and saw Emily. "Emily.." she said in a sadder tone, Emily raised her eyebrows.

"Okay, _what _is up with_ that_?" Emily asked.

"What?" Penelope defended.

"Suddenly I'm you're least favorite person?"

"Not at all, Emily.. it's just.." Penelope trailed off, Emily raised her eyebrows. "Is Avery your daughter?"


	5. Chapter 5: Trapped

The Little Things – 05

**Authors Note: SO I hope you liked the last part! There's not much to say but..**

**PLEASE don't forget to review! I got more reviews on part 3 than 4, same with part 1 then 2.. I'm thinking this is a pattern.. I hope you like it!**

Emily totally froze, she felt like she just got hit with a ton of bricks, she suddenly wished she didn't ask. She scratched the back of her head.

"Why would you ask me that?" was all Emily _thought _to ask. She was hoping she'd be here about a year before anyone started asking questions. She also didn't expect Avery to show up at her office, and Emily wasn't even mad about that, it was understandable under the circumstances. Penelope's eyes started to water, she couldn't help it.

"Well because yesterday Hotch said-"

"Wait, _Hotch_?" Emily asked, Penelope nodded hesitantly. "What did you do Penelope?"

"He wanted to know who Avery was and I pulled her up from the security cameras..." Penelope felt ashamed of what she did.

"And you got all of her information? _With _Hotch there? Great. I thought I could come back and keep _something _of my personal life _personal. _But that doesn't happen when we have a hack-happy technical analyst!" Emily said as she stormed out of the room, she just couldn't believe that Penelope would do that, even if Hotch, her boss, told her too. The first thing she thought of doing when she walked in the glass doors was marching up to Hotch's office and first hitting him with one of his stupid trophies, then yelling at him. But she went straight to her desk and sat down, if she wasn't thinking clearly she probably would have gotten fired.

20 minutes after working Hotch came down from his office and told the team about a case they had and after the presentation they were supposed to be on the plane in an hour. Emily called JJ to make sure it was okay with her to watch Avery, which JJ gladly told her she would, followed by a quick 5 minute conversation about how Emily wanted to kill Hotch.

"Just make sure you're still on the case and make it look like the unsub did it, okay Em?" JJ told her, she was obviously kidding.

"What a great plan, my smart accomplice."

"Emily..."

"I'm kidding, thanks for watching Avery.. I'll call you later." Emily said before hanging up the phone and heading for the plane. _On second thought... nahh. _

**x x x**

"I just got off the phone with Garcia, she said she found the ex-wife of one of the unsubs, Peter Malcolm and she sent me the address.. where's Morgan, Reid and Rossi...?" Emily said as she walked into the room where Hotch was, Hotch didn't bother looking up as he spoke.

"Reid and Morgan went to talk to where Malcolm works and Rossi went to talk to a friend who can potentially help find these unsubs." Hotch said, Emily nodded.

"Alright, well I have the address, she doesn't have a house phone, or a cell phone, I don't know if you want to go there or..." Emily said, it was shocking that someone in the 21st century didn't have a house phone _or _a cell phone.

"No, we'll go." Hotch said as he put paper down on the table, Emily groaned to herself. She was hoping to stay here and do more research while he went. _Without _her. Emily nodded as he grabbed the car keys. "Are you okay?" Hotch asked as they drove to the ex wife's house. Emily was staring out the window the while time. Emily looked at him.

"I'm fine." she told him, she was obviously lying, but she was also a good liar. She looked back out the window and nothing else was said, to Emily's surprise, if he kept pushing her she would have lost it. The long 45 minute drive gave her time to just _think_ and not about the case.

"I guess no ones home.." Hotch said after they knocked on the door and rang the doorbell, Emily groaned.

"What a waste of 45 minutes. Why do would someone want to live in the middle of no where anyway?" Emily said, more to herself as she walked down the front porch steps.

"Her ex husband probably picked the house away from society." Hotch said, Emily rolled her eyes.

"I wasn't expecting a Reid answer on that one," Emily said as she looked over the small ditch and saw a little- what looked like a garage, Emily stepped closer. "Hotch-" she began to say before she stepped on a loose rock that caused her right leg to slip. The reaction most people have when their falling is to try to grab onto something to help yourself- the closest thing to Emily was Hotch. She grabbed him and pulled him down with her, the drop was almost straight down, and slippery from the annual rainfall.

It was a rush, and they barely knew what hit them, as what usually happens when something that quick happens. Emily looked down at Hotch, who was now underneath her, how they landed in that position was a mystery- to both of them.

"What the hell, Emily, couldn't you grab onto a branch or something?" Hotch asked, Emily rolled her eyes and reached her hands to either side of him to prop herself up, expecting mushy mud, but it was hard, she felt a small gap in the middle of her palms, then she looked and saw wood.

"What the-" was all Emily could get out, there was creaking followed by the feeling of falling a million feet before hitting the ground with a thud, Hotch groaned loudly because he landed directly on his back, with the weight of Emily added to that. "Oh my god." Emily said as she rolled off him, catching her breath. "What the fuck was that?" she exclaimed as she looked up at the whole in the ground, or what she thought was the ground before. She looked at Hotch. "Are you okay?"

"Oh, I'm great." he said with a painful groan as he sat up, or at least attempted, it took him at two tries to get up, with few grunts accompanying them.

"Well, I'm sorry." Emily said as she stood up and brushed her pants off and looked up, it was about a 10 foot drop.

"That was sincere." Hotch mumbled as he stood up.

"Shut up." Emily shot back.

"You shouldn't be talking to your _boss _that way." Emily was looking up before, but then she looked at him and glared at him.

"Don't you dare pull that crap on me, Hotch." she told him.

"What are you talking about, I _am _your boss."

"You didn't act like my superior 10 years ago, when we were sleeping with each other." Emily spat, after she said it she completely regretted it. "Whatever," Emily sighed. "We have to get out of here, do have your cell phone?"

"What happened to yours?"

"I left it in the car." Emily answered, Hotch made a face as he reached in his pocket, Emily rolled her eyes as Hotch put his hands in every pocket.

"I must have dropped it when _you _pulled me down the ditch with you." Emily rolled her eyes.

"I didn't exactly plan on pulling you into a ditch with me." Emily said as she walked over to the wall what was made of dirt and she examined it for any nicks that would help her climb up.

"Sure," Hotch scoffed.

"Believe me, _Hotch_. This is the _last _place I want to be." Emily told him as she groaned. "I can't climb out."

"Maybe you could use some help."

"I'm fine, thanks."

"I meant with getting out, I'll hold you up." Hotch told her, Emily looked at him and sighed.

"Fine." she said as she waited for him to walk over. He knelt down on his knee and cupped his hands together so he could help her up, Emily stood on his hands and grabbed onto the wall, reaching for the top. "I'm slipping Hotch!" She said as she grabbed onto a thin root that was hanging out of the wall, Hotch tried to hold her steady. "Get your hand off my ass!"

"I'm not trying to cop a feel, believe me Emily."

"I can't do it, get me down." Emily groaned as he loosened her grip and allowed her to jump down and land on her feet, she let out a sigh and sat on the ground, leaning against the wall. "I hope you have your gun because mine got caught on a branch." Emily said, she noticed when she was on top of him, _before _they fell in the whole.

"That's a prefect place to leave your gun. An unsubs ex wife's house." Hotch said, sarcastically.

"I didn't exactly hook it onto the branch mid-fall, Hotch." Emily retorted and she shook her head and groaned. "God." she mumbled.

"What?" Hotch asked, Emily kept shaking her head.

"This is ridiculous. I mean of all the times to get stuck in a whole, why _now_? Why even at all." Emily said as she put her face in her hands and ran them back all the way to her neck.

"Maybe because we don't get the chance to talk about stuff..." Hotch said in a lower voice, Emily sighed.

"You know about Avery?" Emily asked, even though she knew that he did. Her wall was broken down, she wasn't using anger as a disguise anymore. There was no point, and Hotch wasn't going to pretend he didn't know. That wouldn't clear anything up.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Hotch asked her, Emily dropped her hands and pushed her lips together.

"I don't know Aaron... I guess I thought it would just be easier to leave then face you... I panicked. I'm not good with surprises, you know that." Emily told him, Hotch took a deep breath.

"I mean if you were seeing someone else-" Hotch began, Emily cut him off.

"Wait, what? You think I was cheating on you?"


	6. Chapter 6: Would You Rather?

The Little Things – 06

**Authors Note: Well I hope you liked last part and I hope you like this part!**

**This "them being trapped" thing is supposed to be funny and to clear the air, I'm not sure if people understood that. It's not meant to be a scary thing, more of a funny thing that just happened, I know it's not something that happens often. But its Criminal Minds, what is really _normal_ in that show? **

**I only got 5 reviews on the last part, I would really love to know if you guys are still intrested, by your reviews. So please, **

**Don't forget to tell me what you think by leaving a REVIEW!**

"Wait, what? You think I cheated on you?" Emily said, she was completely shocked. Was he joking?

"Well, you had Avery and-"

"Are you _kidding _me?" Every ounce of respect she had for him flew out of that hole's opening. "Hotch I didn't _cheat _on you. I can't believe you'd think that I would _cheat_ on you. That's ridiculous, Hotch. Who the hell do you think I am? I am faithful. I would _never _cheat on _anyone_." Emily told him as she let out a sigh.

"That means..." Hotch said as he looked down at the ground in shock, he didn't really _think _that she was cheating on him. He just thought of any other possibility.

"Yes, Hotch. Avery is yours." Emily said as she stood up and tried to reach for a root that was sticking out, she wanted to get out and get out fast.

"What are you doing?"

"Trying to get out. What does it look like." Emily mumbled as she pulled herself to the wall, even though she wasn't going anywhere.

"If you couldn't get out with my help what makes you think you'll get out by yourself?" Hotch asked, Emily didn't respond, she just kept trying to move up, Hotch sighed. "Try over here." Hotch said, "There's a couple rocks sticking out that might help." he said, Emily kept trying to get up by herself, with no luck. "Emily." Emily sighed and got down, she didn't look at him, she just looked up at the opening.

They heard a phone ring, Emily looked up to the side Hotch was standing under. "It could be Morgan," Hotch said, Emily walked over, Hotch got down on his knees once again and held his palms together, Emily stood on his palms and grabbed onto a rock in the dirt wall and pulled herself up. "I got you," Hotch said as she pulled herself up, using rocks and small holes that were sticking out to help herself up.

Emily was eye level with the opening and saw Hotch's phone. _One more step._ She thought as she stepped up once more on what she thought was a rock and slowly took her left hand and reached for the phone that was less than 2 feet in front of her. She felt her foot slip sightly and she held onto the edge with her under part of her arms.

"You got it?" Hotch asked as he held his hands out to hold her.

"Yeah." Emily mumbled as her finger tips touched the phone, she screamed as her whole body dropped, Hotch caught her back, but was so caught off guard he ended up falling, too. "Oh my god!" Emily exclaimed as she looked at where her foot was and what her body weight loosened in the dirt wall. Hotch looked up, to his surprise, it was a body. Emily quickly pushed herself to the other side of the hole with her feet. Her back hit the wall and she quickly got up on her feet. "Hotch, it's a..." she said, the whole shock of the situation was making her act differently then she normally would.

"I know..." Hotch said as he stood up, his face wincing at the pain. That fall did not help his back. "Did you get the phone?" Hotch asked her, Emily looked at him.

"I think I dropped it.." Emily told him, looking at the body that was sticking a little less then half way out of the wall.

"In here?"

"I don't know, Hotch." Emily said as she let out a sight.

"I'm sorry." he said, Emily looked at him.

"Let's just talk about this later..."

**x x x**

"Morgan's coming with a team..." Hotch said after getting off the phone with Morgan after finding the phone in a pile of dirt. Emily sighed.

"What I'd give to be in my living room, drinking a nice glass of wine." Emily mumbled, with a dreamy sigh. "What an exciting way to find a body though, huh? Trying to get out of a hole in the ground because I slipped." Emily said, just to lighten the mood a little.

"If we didn't fall in here, we probably never would have found the body, which also means there could potentially be more in here, and that means the unsubs have been doing it longer than we thought." Hotch told her, Emily sighed. "Everything happens for a reason." he said in a lower voice.

"Yeah, tell me about it." Emily groaned and looked around. "So what is there to do in order to pass time when you're hanging out with a body and potentially a few others?" Emily said, she didn't want to sit there for 45 minutes in silence, Hotch shrugged, Emily sighed. "Would you rather..." she said as she looked around. "Be stuck in a ditch with a bunch of snakes or rats?" she asked as she looked at him.

"That's a hard one, are the snakes venomous?" Hotch asked, they used to do silly 'would you rather' things when they were bored.

"No."

"Do the rats have rabies?"

"No, just regular old big teethed, squeaky rats." Emily told him.

"I guess snakes." Hotch shrugged. "You?"

"Neither, are you kidding?" Emily scoffed, Hotch chuckled. They spend the next 40 minutes doing silly 'would you rather' stuff, half of them didn't even make any sense.

"You two okay down there?" Derek asked as he shined the flashlight down at Hotch and Emily. It wasn't fully dark, but it was 6pm and the sun just set. It was dark enough to need a flashlight to see where the hole in the ground was.

"Oh, Morgan, It's my dream to be stuck in a ditch." Emily said as she blocked the light out of her eyes with her hand. "Do you have a latter or something? As much as I'd love to hang out in here, it smells like dead body. Which is not a metaphor, my friend." Emily said.

"What? Did you think I came empty handed?" Derek said as he grabbed the latter from one of the police men, putting it down the ditch.

**x x x**

"Emily, before you go I just wanted to say that I'm sorry and I know it was way uncalled for, what I did." Penelope said before Emily was about to leave, they solved the case within the next two days.

"Oh, Penelope.." Emily said with a small sigh, remembering what she said to her a few days ago. "Don't be sorry, if anything _I'm _sorry. I said things that shouldn't have been said and that are not true." Emily told her as she put her stuff into her bag, Derek and Spencer both looked up, Derek more concerned then Spencer.

"No, you're right. I am hack-happy, I shouldn't have done that, even if Hotch had asked me to. I could have respectfully declined, it didn't have to do with a case we were working on and he couldn't do anything about it. I would have done it on my own time because I was curious too and if you want to talk to be about A-" Penelope began, Emily cut her off quickly.

"Uhm, how about we talk over a dinner or something?" Emily asked quickly, Penelope looked at Spencer and Derek, whom she didn't even notice was there before, she was too focused on apologizing to Emily.

"Yeah, sure. How about tomorrow?"

"Great," Emily said as she put her bag over her shoulder, Penelope nodded as Derek and Spencer both walked towards the glass doors. "You finished work?"

"I just have to finish documenting a few things." Penelope said. "I'll see you later, though." Penelope couldn't think of any witty Garcia things to say, she still felt bad for what she did, even though Emily was quick to forgive her. Emily let out a breath as she started walking towards the front door.

"Emily..." she heard Hotch say, she turned around on her heal and looked at him. "I think we should talk about what happened a couple days ago..." Hotch said a little on the quiet side, Emily nodded.

"Yeah.." she said as she let out a breath.

"Maybe we can have dinner at my house so we can talk..." Hotch said, he was still unsure about how to approach this whole subject, he knew that Emily sort of had issues with this sort of thing. And commitment, which is why she left 10 years ago. Emily really didn't want to think about how it would happen, them talk about it. The ditch conversation was enough for her.

"I-I don't think tonight's a good night..." Emily said, then she remembered what JJ said. "No you know what- I can... wait, I just have to make sure someone can watch Avery..."

"I understand if tonight's not a good night..."

"No, it's not even that." Emily said as she let out a sigh. "If we don't have this conversation soon, it'll be harder to have it... Can I call you later to let you know?" she asked, Hotch nodded.

**x x x**

"I feel like a fricken 15 year old that just got asked out on a date by the fricken hottest guy in school, that just so happens to be captain of the football team." Emily said as she put chips in her mouth.

"Well, you are nervous. Hotch _is _the captain of the team _and _he's attractive." JJ said as she grabbed a chip and ate it, Emily raised her eyebrows. "What?" JJ asked as she widened her eyes. "You obviously thought so," JJ reminded her, "You're the one that slept with the boss." JJ sang the last part as she picked out the bigger size chips from the bowl, mostly crumbs were left.

"Well, thank you, JJ for that reminder." Emily said as she rolled her eyes.

"Multiple times." JJ said in a lower voice with a smirk.

"Shut up!" Emily said as she took a sip of her water and looked at Avery and Henry playing. "I should probably call Hotch now, shouldn't I?" Emily asked.

"Do you always call him 'Hotch'? I mean, during climax do you just scream 'Hotch' or 'Aaron'?" JJ asked, Emily's eyes widened.

"JJ!" JJ laughed and got up to throw the rest of the chips away, Emily let out a sigh. "And I did _not _scream 'Hotch'!"


	7. Chapter 7: The Talk

The Little Things – 07

**Authors Note: I hope you liked the last part :] I hope you liked the funny snippet at the end!**

**Sorry for the long wait..**

**SOMEONE SAID SOMETHING ABOUT THE TIME LINE IN THE STORY!**

**I have said the timeline in AUthors notes previously. I didn't think I needed to say it EVERY single chapter, If you don't understant that, I have said it in past authors notes. So please read the authors notes if you comment, telling me to say it in an authors note.**

**I said it all in one of the chapters, I would not like to go fully into it now, because it'll take up a lot of space. So please just read authors notes. thank you.**

**PLEASE tell me what you think and leave a review!**

"I'm really glad you called," Hotch said as he let Emily into his house, Emily smiled and walked in.

"I have to be honest, I'm still shocked you're so open to talking about it and not ready to bite my head off, which would be totally understandable under the circumstances..." Emily said as she walked in. "Is Jack here?"

"No, he's spending the night at a friends," Hotch answered, there was an awkward silence, which both of them expected, Hotch looked at the clock. "The pizza should be here any minute, make yourself at home." he said as he walked into the kitchen. "Do you want a glass of wine?"

"Sure..." Emily said as she sat on the couch, his couch was much more comfortable then hers, she let out a sigh, remembering how much she loved this couch. She closed her eyes, this couch was more comfortable then her bed. She had fallen asleep on this couch many times.

"Here you go," Hotch said as he handed her the glass and sat down next to her. Emily looked at him as he took a sip of wine.

"So I guess I should start with _why_ I left..." Emily said.

"Let me start by saying I'm sorry I _implied _that you cheated on me. I didn't think that, I _wouldn't _think that. I was just what I was _hoping _for in a way... that sounds so selfish.." Hotch said the last part more to himself as he looked at Emily.

"If anyone should be apologizing for being _selfish_, it's me, Hotch... _Aaron_, I panicked.. I don't know why I did it. It seemed like the only viable option. You were just at the height of your career, I couldn't take that away from you all because I.. _wanted _it that night in Maine." Emily said with a sigh.

"It was a long case, Emily. We were there for a week and a half, I was a contributor to that. I could have said 'no'." Hotch said, he didn't want her to think it was all her fault. Emily sighed.

"If I could do it over again, I would..."

"If people got to go back and change things, the outcome may never be as satisfying as they'd want." Hotch told her, Emily nodded, she start to feel her eyes burn, she sniffed in and reached in her bag.

"Here," she said as she handed him a picture. "I thought you might want it.." Hotch looked down at the picture, it was a picture of Avery, a small smile came across his face.

"Where did you come up with the name 'Avery', it's a beautiful name..."

"You said you would have named Jack that, if he was a girl of course. You also said you liked the name 'Rose', that's her middle name." Hotch smiled.

"Avery Rose..." he whispered as he memorized the picture, thinking about how beautiful she was.

"I have to admit.. I really thought you'd wanna rip my head off.." Emily said, Hotch looked at her.

"I guess I'm just relieved you weren't cheating on me, or left because of something I did." Hotch said with a small chuckle as the door bell rang. "That must be the pizza.."

**x x x**

Hotch and Emily talked about the whole situation, Emily didn't want to be selfish, but she knew they couldn't dive into it and surprise Avery like that. Emily _had _to make sure she and he could both deal with it, and that she wouldn't freak out and leave again like she did before. Or that Hotch was serious about this whole thing, which he was.

So they left it at that, they'd see how things went with their relationship, _friendship _wise.

"She's passed out in Henry's bed, why don't you just let her spend the night? She was extremely tired." JJ told Emily after they talked about what happened, Emily sighed.

"No, because then I'd have to come get her in the morning and it'd just be a total mess. Besides, I'd hope after being away for 3 days she'd wanna see me in the morning." Emily said with a laugh. "I'll call you tomorrow though, you busy for dinner? Pen and I are gonna go out, I'm pretty sure she'll wanna catch up with you, too. Oh crap, then we have to figure out what to do with Avery and Henry..."

"Will's gonna be home by 6, if we go around 6:15 or 6:30 it should be fine." JJ told her.

"Thanks for being so supportive with Avery.. I can't thank you enough Jayje."

"Being a parent is hard enough, Em. Especially with the job, being a _single _parent is much worse. I can't even begin to understand how hard it must be, so do _not _say that. Please." JJ said, Emily smiled and hugged her. "Call me tomorrow." she said as Emily smiled and walked into Henry's room, it was only 9, but Avery and Henry were both sound asleep. JJ and Emily brought them ice skating for 2 hours earlier today. Emily woke Avery up and brought her home.

"I love that idea!" Penelope gushed as Emily pressed the button in the elevator after a long day of going through case files, Emily just mentioned bringing JJ along. "I haven't seen JJ for a while. And she knows about... everything?" Emily nodded.

"I'm sorry about not telling you,"

"I understand, please no apologizing, Emily." Penelope said. "Now whose ready to get drunk?" she said once the doors opened, causing Emily to burst out in laughter. But that wasn't the only thing she would be laughing about later.

**x x x**

"Yeah! Will! I'm spending the night at Penelope's! You think you can handle both of them until the morning?" JJ said, louder than normal in the background, Emily's laugh Penelope's apartment after her third glass of wine there, she had had about 2 hours ago when they ate. JJ moved her hand as if to swat a fly as she walked into Penelope's bedroom so it was quieter.

"Emily! You're like a gushing stream, my love. Calm down with the alcohol!" Penelope said as Emily finished pouring her forth glass and took a sip, then she squinted her eyebrows.

"I don't understand what you're trying to say..." Emily said as she looked at her.

"Stop laughing, you're gonna turn into an umpa lumpa." Penelope said, JJ walked in and gave both of them a weird look. "You totally came in on the wrong end of that conversation..." Penelope said, JJ nodded slowly.

"Okay, well Will is fine with watching Avery and Henry." JJ said as she went over to finish making three margaritas. They walked over when she finished.

"I really don't think Emily should be drinking anymore."

"Give her a break, Pen. The last time she got drunk was with Hotch, and they got it on!" JJ told her, Emily raised her eyebrows, and laughed.

"You are so going to use that against me for the rest of my life," Emily laughed.

"You got it." JJ said as she picked up one, Emily and Penelope picked there's up.

"Cheers." they all said as they took a sip.

**x x x**

"Oh my god, will you two shut up." Emily said as she put her head in her hand over her desk. Getting drunk last night was _not _a good idea.

"We're just talking about the possibility of-"

"Yes, Reid. I know. You've been fighting about it for the past 15 minutes. Reid's right, get over it." Emily said as she took a sip of coffee.

"Okay, what did you do last night?"

"It's none of your business, Morgan. Personal boundaries, remember?" Emily said as she rubbed her temple, Morgan was about to say something, but noticed Penelope walking over.

"Morning, baby girl." he said as she walked past him.

"Morning." Penelope mumbled as she walked to Hotch's office to give him some work. Derek immediately turned towards Emily.

"What did you two do last night?"

"The same thing you do _every _night." Emily said.

"Sleep with girls?" Spencer chimed in, Derek glared at him.

"She has a hang over, Reid." Derek said in a 'duh' tone.

"I need more coffee." Emily mumbled as she got up to grab her fourth cup this morning, 2 at home and 2 here.

"You need more then coffee." Derek said with a smile, Emily just glared at him before walking over to get the coffee.

**x x x**

"Emily," Hotch said as she walked by his office a few hours later, lightly grabbing onto her arm to get her attention, it was now 2pm and Emily was wide awake still had a small head ache but it wasn't nearly as bad as before.

"Yeah?" she asked as she looked at him.

"Are you okay?" he asked, Emily raised her eyebrows, _why did he ask if I was okay? _She was _fine _enough, a little head ache, but that was expected after getting totally wasted.

"I'm fine.. why do you ask?"

"Because last night when we talked you seemed a little un easy..." Emily's eyes widened.

"Last night?" she asked, Hotch nodded slowly, beginning to be confused with why she was so shocked. "Last night... I don't remember talking to you last night.. I was uh, I was kinda drunk.." she said, Hotch came to realize and nodded. "What exactly did I say?"

"That's the thing, I couldn't understand half of the things you _were _saying. Something about Avery, then Jack, Avery hating broccoli, and it sounded like you were crying... Then you said you had to go and just hung up." Hotch answered, Emily nodded slowly.

"I'm sorry I called you.. and Avery was being watched, in case you were wondering. I haven't gotten drunk in a while.. or drank in a while, for that matter." Emily told him, she didn't want him to think she was some sort of drunken mother that needs rehab.

"I didn't think you did, I know you put Avery's best interest before yours, too. So you don't have to worry about me thinking you take care of her when you're drunk," Hotch said, like he read her mind. Profiling _does _come in handy when not trying to catch serial killers. Emily nodded and smiled.

"I should get back to work.." Emily said, Hotch nodded, Emily turned around and let out a sigh.

**x x x**

"What happened?" Emily asked with concern and confusion as she bent down to Avery, who was standing there. Henry backed out of the room slowly as JJ walked behind him.

"Uh-uh mister. You have to tell Emily what happened." JJ said as she walked over and leaned against the wall with a sigh. "I washed it," JJ said with a sigh. "He didn't mean to, from what I understand, but I'll let Henry explain it to you." JJ said, Emily looked at Henry, he was like a son to her, too. Even if he hurt Avery she wouldn't be really mad at him, he's a good kid.

"We were playing with my Legos..." Henry said slowly, on the verge of tears. He felt bad about it, but it was an accident. He didn't realize what happened until she was crying. "She stepped on my house and it broke..." Henry continued, talking about his lego house. "And I got mad and threw my car at her..." Henry hesitated to get out, feeling ashamed. "I'm sorry Emily! Please don't hate me! I didn't mean to, I just got angry!"

"I'm okay, mom. He said it was an accident." Avery said as Emily looked at the darker shade of skin that was slowly forming a bruise, Emily sighed and looked at JJ.

"He's not allowed to watch TV for 2 days." JJ said with a shrug, Emily nodded.

"Go play with Henry for a few minutes.." Emily said, Avery nodded and walked away with Henry.

"Are you pissed?" JJ asked as she sat on the couch next to her.

"No, not at all." Emily answered as she let out a sigh. "The schools gonna think I'm an abusive parent now,"

"No they wont..." Emily gave her a 'seriously' look. "Maybe they will, but this is the first time it's happened. So I guarantee you wont get a call from the main office." JJ said. "Okay," JJ sighed, Emily looked at her. "Tell me what's on your mind." Emily groaned and put her head in her hands.

"I think Avery and Hotch should meet..."


	8. Chapter 8: Mistaken

The Little Things – 08

**Authors Note: I got 9 reviews in less than 24 hours.. so let me just start by saying THANK YOU!**

**I'm glad you guys are liking this :]**

**There's a little man-to-man talk between Hotch and Rossi, I figured you guys have seen enough woman-to-woman talk between Em and JJ! **

**It's kinda short, it's sort of a FILLER and FUNNY chapter, next part will be better :]**

**AND it's a quick update, rewarding you for your support, the next should be updated soon.**

**Please review and I hope you enjoy!**

"There are two things wrong with that statement." JJ told her, Emily raised her eyebrows. "You _think_ Avery and Hotch should meet, and you sound like you're _asking _me, not telling me." JJ said, Emily sighed.

"Well they should definitely meet," she said as she blew up to her bangs that were stuck to her face. "And I guess I _am _asking you. I don't know, JJ. This is the first time I've ever dealt with something like this!" Emily groaned as she put her hands in her face.

"And thank god for that!" JJ said with a laugh, Emily chuckled and rolled her eyes.

"I just Hotch is on the same page as me..." Emily said as she leaned back on the couch to a slouch, JJ raised her eyebrows.

"With what, Em?" she asked.

"_Everything_." Emily sighed.

**x x x**

"I was hoping maybe we could... talk..." Emily hesitated. This was _it_, after a _long _day of going through case files and finishing up work, Emily _finally _worked up the courage to mention anything about the topic. Even though they exchanged a few words here and there, Spencer and Derek were already gone and Dave was doing god-knows-what. Hotch looked up at her.

"Of course we can," he said as he closed a case file.

"Oh, I don't want to take away from your work... we can talk later..." Emily said, even though they both knew there probably wouldn't be a later.

"It can wait," Hotch reassured her as he motioned for her that it was okay to sit down, Emily sat down and looked out the window for a minute, letting herself drift off into a daydream. Hotch cleared his throat and she quickly looked at him.

"Sorry.. I uh.. are you sure this is a good time?" Emily asked.

"Yes, Emily. This is the perfect time. Is everything okay?" Hotch's curious and caring instinct took over, she seemed uneasy. She's _been _uneasy since she got back.

"Oh... okay..." Emily said as she trailed off, she was _hoping _he'd just kick her out, but who was she kidding? Even if he was in the middle of something _completely _urgent, he'd probably take 5 minutes to talk to her. "I was thinking that.. if you want... you could meet Avery soon..." Hotch was shocked, he thought she was on the page were 'we'll see you _might _be able to meet her _in a few years or so_'.

"I'd like that," Hotch nodded, Emily nodded.

"Can I also ask you something..." Emily said, Hotch nodded. "Do you think it's okay if you two meet _before _I tell her that you're her father? I mean, I just... if something goes wrong I don't want her to get her hopes up..." Emily's voice got less confident as the sentence went on, Hotch was taken aback.

"What could go wrong?" he asked her.

"I don't know.. if I tell her and something suddenly happens where she can no longer see you, if I get her hopes up that you might be in her life some more and I don't want her to be disappointed if something happens.. you know me, Aaron... I always think about the bad things..." Emily said, she studied his face as he looked down at the floor.

"I'm happy you feel comfortable enough to make that gesture, Emily. I would love to meet Avery and I understand your uneasiness, she is your daughter, too. And you're the one that has raised her and I know you put her best interest into consideration." Hotch told her. "And if that means not telling her right away that I am her father, I completely understand."

"You're really making me want to punch myself for leaving like an idiot." Emily groaned, Hotch chuckled.

"We'll talk more about this and when we're going to meet another time, you should get home and get some rest. I've been in touch with Iowa State P.D. And they think they have a serial killer, so we might be on the case soon." Hotch told her, Emily nodded and stood up.

"_Yo__u_ should get some rest, too." Emily said. "And I'd really love to see Jack again, soon..."

"Of course," Hotch smiled. "And I hardly rest."

"I know," Emily chuckled as she walked out of his office.

**x x x**

"What's been up with you and Prentiss lately?" Dave said as he walked into Hotch's office after watching Emily get into the elevator, Hotch looked up and gave him a confused look.

"I don't know what you're talking about, nothing's "up"." Hotch said as he looked back down at his work, Dave walked in and sat across from him, Hotch looked up at him then moved his head up and let out a sigh.

"I _know_ Aaron." Dave said, Hotch played it off.

"You know what?"

"I _know _about you and Prentiss." Dave told him, Hotch stayed quiet, unsure of what to say. "I know you and Prentiss had a thing, I'm not dumb. Everyone was always unsure and confused, except maybe Reid, but he's an exception to a lot of things." Dave told him, Hotch straightened his back and stiffened.

"I know you are not dumb, but sometimes you _are _mistaken." Hotch spoke sternly, Dave shook his head.

"Fine, Aaron." he said as he leaned forward in his seat. "You can deny it all you want. We go way back, _I _go way back. I've been around the block with my co-workers back in the day." Dave told him, Hotch sighed. "Do you really want to tell me I'm mistaken?" he asked, Hotch groaned as Dave raised his eyebrows.

"We _did_ have a thing, Dave." Hotch confessed with a sigh, Dave smiled and leaned back in his seat. "We no longer do... and there are a lot of things going on between us that you wouldn't understand." Hotch said, then realized it was pretty easy to understand, just hard to say.

"I have a feeling that might change." Dave said in a tune, _not _sing. Everyone knows David Rossi does _not _sing. Hotch rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Things are _complicated._" Hotch told him.

"_Life _is complicated, Aaron." Dave told him with his eyebrows raised.

"Dave." Hotch warned, Dave put his hands up in defense as he stood up.

"Alright, alright." he said. "If you ever need to talk, you know where I am." Dave said as he casually left the room.

**x x x**

"We have a case," Emily sighed into the phone.

"So I get to watch Avery? That's fine." JJ said.

"Alright, thanks JJ." Emily said.

"Have fun- wait, _please _don't have fun catching a serial killer. More like... CATCH the killer..." JJ said, Emily laughed.

"I know what you mean, thanks Jayje, I'll call back when I can."

"And don't fall into another ditch!" JJ said before Emily hang up, Emily laughed.

"Bye JJ." she said as she hung up. Emily laughed and opened the curtain to the plane and walked back to take her seat with a coffee cup in her hand.

"Look at you all smiley." Derek said as Emily sat down across from her. "Were you talking to your_ girlfriend_?" he taunted, Emily sighed. He's going to hold this against her _forever_.

"Girlfriend?" Dave asked with a raised eyebrow, usually he'd bother Spencer about talking to a _girlfriend _that was non-existent. But he thought it might explain a lot with why she left.

"Morgan has this fantasy that I'm dating JJ." Emily answered as she opened the case file. "Besides, she's with Will." Emily said as she took a sip of coffee.

"Relationships are temporary." Derek said with a smirk, Emily kicked his shin. "OW!" Derek exclaimed as he reached down to rub his shin.

"I'm sorry," Emily said as she brought the coffee cup to her lips, still reading the case file, she continued. "My foot slipped."


	9. Chapter 9: Emotions

The Little Things – 09

**Authors Note: Thanks for ALL the reviews on the last part, people seem to LOVE the fast updates, so I'll try my best to update as quickly as I can! I'm glad you guys are enjoying this... I know I'm completely redundant.**

**:]**

**I also have a fic called 'I'm Coming Home' that is a JJ/Morgan story, with some Emily mystery thrown in there, you might like it so check it out!**

**I'm also REALLY sorry for not updating as fast as I should have, I had a busy busy weekend, which usually doesn't happen, lucky for you. :]**

**Anyway, PLEASE keep the reviews coming!**

"Do I get workers compensation or something? I think Prentiss broke my ankle." Derek said as he sat back up and looked over at Hotch who was reading through the case file.

"Not for that." Hotch mumbled as he flipped the page, Emily smiled as she put her coffee cup down and Derek groaned and looked at Emily who stuck her tongue between her two teeth and laughed evilly. Derek scrunched his eyebrows together and stuck his tongue out at her, making a face. "Morgan, stop being inappropriate." Hotch told him, Derek sighed and crossed his arms, looking at the table, then he glanced up to Emily. Who stuck her tongue out to the right and made a face at him. Derek rolled his eyes and made a face at her. "Morgan, what did I just say?" Hotch scolded, Derek looked at him.

"Hotch, Prentiss- I'm not-" Derek began, then groaned and sighed. He gave up, Dave chuckled to himself and Emily just smiled happily to herself.

"Why was Morgan making weird faces to you on the plane?" Hotch asked Emily, _again _he had split the team up so they were together, which was the _main _reason Dave brought up what he brought up the other way, Derek was too upset to worry, Hotch put him with _Spencer_, again. Spencer could care less, and Dave did his own thing.

"You're asking _me_?" Emily defended. "Morgan's weird." she told him, Hotch raised his eyebrows. "He has this fantasy that JJ and I are dating... so I kicked him, then made faces at him." Emily said, Hotch nodded slowly. "My reaction wasn't inappropriate either," she told him while looking at him.

"I know, that's why I didn't say anything." Hotch said with a smile.

**x x x**

"Good job Prentiss," Morgan said as he patted her back and took his seat on the plane 2 days later, Emily got the unsub to confess, _while _he had her at gunpoint and was about to burst into tears, then he tried to shoot her. Emily gave him a half smile as she looked back out the window.

"Richard Ramirez once said "Even psychopaths have emotions... then again, maybe not"." Spencer said as he sat down next to Dave, who glanced at him.

"Great for him." Dave said. Hotch sat at the seat next to Emily, that was on the other side of the isle. Emily looked up at him.

"How's your head?" he asked while looking at the small bump on her forehead that was going to be a bruise tomorrow. It didn't happen the way you're thinking, the unsub hit her with something- _oh no!_ But _actually _Emily walked into the car door, which was a great laugh for everything, especially Derek, who now had another thing to hold against her. Emily laughed.

"I don't have a migraine from it anymore," she said. "But now I have to explain to JJ and Avery that I walked into a car door. Which should be fun," Emily said, sarcastically of course. Everyone was on the other side of the plane and now doing there own thing, so they couldn't hear their conversation, Hotch chuckled on the lower side and smiled.

"You've done dumber things, remember the sink when you sprayed yourself in the face? And when you walked into the screen door, oh and-" Hotch began, Emily cut him off.

"I didn't ask for a reminder of the stupid things I've done. And I was drunk when I sprayed myself in the face." Emily defended, Hotch smiled. "And you were distracting me when I was walking in the house."

"So," Hotch chuckled. "That doesn't mean I did it on purpose."

"Oh, I think you did." Emily said with a nod, Hotch shook his head and Emily smiled as she watched him. "Are you busy Saturday?" she heard herself ask, Hotch thought for a minute.

"No, I don't think I am." he told her, Emily nodded and looked away from him.

"Because I was thinking that's when you can meet Avery.. if you're up to it." Emily said as she looked at him, Hotch smiled and nodded.

"That would be great," he said, shocked that it was so soon, _everything _was happening so soon, but it's been 10 years. How much longer can you wait- how much longer _should _you wait?

"If it's too soon I understand.."

"No, no, It's not at all." Hotch told her, Emily nodded. "I look forward to it.." he said, Emily smiled. "If you're not busy tomorrow night you could have dinner with me and Jack," he offered, Emily looked at him.

"I just have to make sure JJ can watch Avery, and if she's okay with it.. but otherwise that'd be great." Emily said with a smile, Hotch smiled.

"I have to finish some work," Hotch said as he turned to face forward.

"I'll let you get to that." Emily said with a nod as she looked out the window.

**x x x**

"JJ let Henry and I make tie dye shirts! Wait, I have it in my bag, let me show you," Avery said as she took her backpack off and knelt down to search through her bag, Emily laughed.

"I don't know why you can't just wait til we're inside," Emily laughed as she took her keys out to open the apartment door, but her hand froze when she saw it was open about a crack. Emily reached to her gun and slowly pulled it out of the holster. "Avery, stay right there." she said sternly as she opened the door and held her gun in front of her, taking a few steps forward, Avery looked up at her mother cautiously making her way into the apartment. Avery slowly stood up and put the back pack back on her back. Emily made her way in and out of the rooms cautiously, making sure to glance over at Avery, she stopped at the stairs and pulled her cellphone out and walked down the hall, she finished talking to her cleaning lady, who accidentallyleft the door open. She sighed and shut the phone and putting her gun back in the holster. "Avery..." Avery looked at her. She understood everything was okay then, otherwise she wouldn't have put her gun back.

"I hate when you do that." Avery said with tears in her eyes as she walked into the house. She was scared and didn't know how else to deal with it, but freak out.

"Avery, there could have been someone here, I was trying to protect you." Emily told her calmly, Avery stopped towards the stairs. "Avery."

"You left me alone in the hallway." Avery said as she turned towards her, Emily was confused as to why she would react like this. "You left me alone.. just like my fa-" Avery began, Emily cut her off.

"You better not say your father, Avery." Emily said, Avery became quiet, her eyes filling with water. "Your father didn't leave," Emily told her, Avery felt ashamed she thought that, the worst crossed her mind. "I left him." Avery sniffled.

"Why?" she cried, Emily opened her mouth to say something. "And don't say I'm too young to understand, I deserve to know." Water rimmed Emily's eyes, Emily knew Avery deserved to know and she just _told _herself Avery was too young to understand to save her a head ache. But the truth was, she was right. She _can _understand what's going on, if Emily just gave her the chance. Emily let out a sigh.

"Because I was selfish." Emily said in a lower voice as she looked down at her feet, Avery stepped off the last step of the stairs and dropped her hand from the banister, she wasn't sure she heard exactly what she said, well, if she heard her correctly.

"What?" she asked quietly.

"I was selfish," Emily said as she looked at her, she let out a sigh. "Your father and I were working together, at the BAU, and we weren't supposed to be together because it's against the rules." Emily's eyes were burning, once again as she took a deep breath, she didn't want Avery to see her cry, she never wanted _anyone _to see her cry or be vulnerable. "And when I got pregnant with you, I panicked and ran. I wasn't thinking about him or _you_ I was thinking about myself and the easy way out... and... I'm sorry Avery." Emily said as she sat on the couch and put her head in her hands. Avery walked over to her and gently put her hand on her shoulder.

"I'm not mad at you..." she said, Emily picked her head up and looked at her before pulling her into a tight hug.

"I'm sorry I put you through all this..." Emily said after she pulled away and wiped her tears with her hand. "I've been a horrible mother.." she sighed. "But I'm gonna make it up to you," Emily nodded.

"Hey, mom. Look at me." Avery said as she put her hands on Emily's shoulders. "You are the best mom anyone could ever ask for." Avery said, Emily smiled. "Now say it." Avery said as she dropped her hands and sat on the coffee table across from her, Emily laughed.

"It's oka-"

"Say it." Avery demanded, Emily looked at her and smiled.

"I'm the best mom anyone could ever ask for?" Emily asked, Avery nodded.

"Great! Now what's for dinner?" Avery asked, Emily laughed.

"First, you need to get off the table." Emily said as she stood up.

**x x x**

"Are we on for dinner?" Hotch asked as they finally got a moment alone the next day, they were both running around all day, first they had separate meetings with Strauss and just work in general. Emily looked at him.

"Tonight," Emily reminded herself. "Yeah, we are." she said. "When are you going be home.. what time should I come over at?"

"I'm hoping to be out by 6... so 7 is fine." Emily nodded.

"I will see you then." she said before walking out to the glass doors.

"Jack said he would be here by 7... he should be here any minute, we can start eating though." Hotch said as he put the plate in the middle of the table, Emily looked at the food.

"Chicken Parm?" she asked as he sat down. "That's bold." Emily said with a nod, Hotch laughed as he took a piece for himself and gave her some. "Last time you cooked dinner with me here you almost burnt the house down." Emily said with a small laugh, Hotch smiled and she took a bite.

"I figured cereal and ice cream wouldn't fit Jack's nutritional needs," Hotch told her as he took a bite, Emily squinted her eyes.

"Are you sure you didn't get this at a restaurant?" she asked after swallowing.

"I'm guessing you like it?" Hotch asked, Emily shook her head.

"No," she said as she swallowed another piece. "More live I'm in heaven." she said, Hotch laughed. "No, but seriously, this is really good."

"I've had 10 years of practice," he answered at he took a bite, Emily looked up at him.

"Sorry I'm late, dad." Jack said as he dropped his bag off in the living room. "I was finishing up some work at the library..." Jack's voice trailed off as he walked into the dining room, he froze when he saw Emily there.


	10. Chapter 10: Unavoidable

The Little Things – 10

**Authors Note: I got so many reviews even after it took me a few days to update. So THANK YOU so so much for that!**

**I'm glad you're liking this(I'm gonna say it every part :P)**

**I've also requested someone to make me a trailer, so that should be finished soon :]**

**You've been great with reviews, so as a reward I'm gonna give you an EXTRA LONG chapter. Usually these parts are about 2,000 words, some are less :[**

**So the next one will be 3,000 words :] I would have made this one 3,000 words but I needed to leave it on a good cliff hanger!**

**Please don't forget to review!**

"Jack," Hotch said as he watched him freeze. "This is Emily, I'm not sure if you remember meeting her, you were 4 when you first met her..." Jack nodded as he sat down at his seat.

"I remember.." Jack said, on the quiet side. "It's nice to see you again." he said, he spoke quietly. He wasn't much of a 'social butterfly', and he wasn't expecting her to be there. He didn't really remember much of her at all, but she did remember that her and his father had a relationship. At the time, when he was 6, he didn't know that's what it was, but he saw them kissing. Which he now realized they were in a relationship and that she left when he was 6. It took a huge toll on him and he started remembering that she was the mother figure when his mom died, and she left. Just like his mom.

"So your dad tells me you're doing great in school.." Emily said as Jack put some food on his plate, he just nodded and took a bite of chicken, Hotch didn't cook a lot, usually they had pizza or Chinese because he usually works late. Jack just thought it was because Emily was there. A lot of thoughts were running through his mind, were they dating again? Why is she here after 10 years? But he knew he couldn't ask, of course not. The questions would have to wait until Emily was gone.

"How was school, Jack?" Hotch asked, he needed to lighten the mood somehow. He wasn't angry with Jack, he wasn't much of a talker around new people. Jack shrugged.

"It was fine." he answered, Hotch nodded slowly. "I got a 97 on my chemistry test." he perked up, forgetting momentarily that Emily was there out of excitement.

"Wow," Hotch said with a smile. "That's great, Jack."

"Yeah," Jack smiled, which made Emily smile, too because of his excitement. "I got 2 wrong, they were on Ionic Bonding, but I know the right answers now." Jack nodded, Hotch smiled and they continued to eat.

"Do you remember when we were at that restaurant in Florida with the team and Reid knocked water over and scared Morgan, causing him to drop his chicken all over his shirt?" Emily asked a while after a few conversations that went on between Jack and Hotch. She remembered because Derek was eating chicken parm too. Hotch nodded.

"Yes, and he was so pissed because he was flirting with the waitress," Hotch said with a laugh, Emily laughed.

"Oh my god, yeah." she remembered, Jack dropped his fork by accident causing Hotch and Emily to look at him, Jack cleared his throat.

"I have to finish some homework..." Jack said as he wiped his mouth and took his plate into the kitchen before rushing upstairs. He didn't exactly have homework to do, nor was he completely finished with his dinner. He just wanted to get out of there. Emily looked down at her plate as she set her fork down, she noticed Jack was hesitant and shocked she was there to begin with.

"Emily.." Hotch said as she looked at her watch.

"It's kinda late," she said as she stood up and grabbed the plate.

"I'll get that," Hotch said as he got up and brought her plate to the kitchen. Emily smiled and grabbed her bag. "I'm so-" Hotch began, Emily cut him off.

"It's not your fault," Emily told him. "And it's not his either, we'll talk about this later though.. I have to get Avery and get her to bed before 9. She's been getting to sleep at random times lately," Emily said, Hotch nodded.

"So I'll see you tomorrow?" he asked, Emily nodded as he walked her to the door.

"Bright and early." she said with a small laugh before putting her bag on her shoulder and smiled before walking out. Hotch smiled as he watched her walk to her car, then let out a sigh.

**x x x**

"There was an abduction in Baltimore, Maryland elementary school," Hotch said as he walked into the conference room.

"And they called us?" Derek asked.

"The same thing happened 6 months ago in Rumford, Main." Hotch said. "And a month ago in Scraton, Pennsylvania." he said as he distributed the files to everyone. "It was a 12 year old girl in Rumford, and a 10 year old in Scarton. Same M.O., the unsub posed as a faculty member and held a gun to a child's head, which allowed for him to get away unharmed."

"Don't we know what this guy looks like then?" Derek asked.

"Not quite," Hotch answered. "Garcia tried to figure out who he was using the pictures from the security cameras, he looks completely different each abduction. Different hair color, style, facial features. It seems we have an expert here." he continued.

"He's most likely doing this for attention then, considering the scenes he makes just by the abduction itself," Emily said as she looked at pictures of the victims. "And he dumps the bodies in public places after brutally murdering them."

"He is most likely suffering from paranoid psychosis. It says here he made all the children hide under their desks, at the most recent one he shot a school teacher on the way out because he was startled." Spencer said.

"We have less than 24 hours until he dumps the body." Hotch said, "They would like us there within the next hour, wheels up in 10." They all dispersed to grab their bags, making it there in the 10 minutes they had.

"I've asked them to keep it out of the media as much as possible." Hotch said once they got into the police station.

"Well, they sure did listen," Derek said. "They're calling him the 'The School Abductor'."

"How clever." Emily groaned as the officer in charge walked over.

"Officer McKinley, I'm Agent-" Hotch began.

"We've been alerted that a body of a 10 year old girl has been found under leaves at a park in the woods. They just alerted us that it is Samantha Sanchez." the officer said, out of breath. Hotch, Emily and Derek all let out a sigh and were disappointed they couldn't have done anything to help, but knew they would still be there trying to figure out any information they could so it wouldn't happen again.

"We still would like to stick around and gather any information that we can to prevent this from happening again." Hotch said, the officer nodded.

"Of course, we have a room set up," the officer said as he pointed to the room, they all went to the room.

"I'll call Reid so he can break the news to the family." Derek said as he walked out, Emily put the pictures of the victims up on the board and stared at them, she started thinking _what if it were Avery_, she couldn't help it.

"You okay?" Hotch asked, Emily looked over at him, then back to the pictures.

"Yeah..." she said as she snapped out of it. "Should I go down to the coroners whose looking at Samantha Sanchez's body?" she asked, Hotch nodded.

"Take Morgan with you." Hotch said as Derek walked in.

"Where?" Derek asked as he shut his phone.

"I'm driving." Emily smiled as she grabbed the car keys and put the hole around her finger and walked out to the car, Derek shook his head and followed.

**x x x**

"What's been up with you lately?" Derek asked, Emily gave him a weird look.

"What are you talking about?" she asked him, Derek sighed, he didn't mean for it to come out like that.

"That's not what I meant," he said. "Why did you leave 10 years ago? And what made you come back?" he asked, Emily sighed and looked out the window as her grip on the steering wheel tightened. She couldn't tell him now, but she knew she _had _to eventually. Then she thought that she didn't, it's none of his business, it's hers. She pulled into the driveway and got out immediately, thanking god that she didn't have to say anything about it.

She was good at avoiding topics, just like she did earlier with Hotch. But once she walked in and saw Samantha Sanchez's body she wished she didn't offer to look at the dead body of a 10 year old when she has a 10 year old daughter. Emily gulped as she listened to what the coroner was saying.

"I did, however find a finger print on her body, I sent it up to the lab for processing."

"Can you send the picture to our technical analyst?" Derek asked, the coroner nodded and talked to Derek while sending it to her. "Thanks." Derek said as he walked over to Emily. "You ready?" he asked, Emily nodded and walked out the door, she handed him the car keys. "What?"

"I know how much you like to be in control." Emily said as she got in the passengers seat.

"See, now that was just uncalled for." Derek said as he got into his seat.

"So is asking about my personal life. It's personal for a reason." Emily told him, Derek sighed.

"Fine, I get it. Alright." Derek said. "I'm sorry," Emily nodded.

"I know you are." she said as she smirked and looked out the window.

**x x x**

"What do you got for me baby girl?" Derek asked as he put the phone to his ear. Emily rolled her eyes and walked into the police station. "Prentiss!" he snapped when Emily let go of the door instead of hold it open for him. Emily smiled.

"Oops." she said with a smirk as she walked into the conference room where Hotch was.

"How did it go?"

"There was a fingerprint on Samantha's neck, we sent it to Garcia and she's cross referencing it with white men that may have been in jail or juvy in the last 15 years." Emily answered, Hotch nodded.

"Garcia just said she found a match," Derek said as he walked in, putting the phone on speaker phone.

"There is a Peter Simon who was in prison for robbery 10 years ago, he got out last year, he had a probation officer starting at age 14 after being sent to juvy."

"Where did he go to-" Hotch began.

"School?" Penelope asked. "Well here's a shocker. In 1990 he went to Franklin Elementary in Rumford, Maine. In 1991 Scraton Elementary in Scraton, Pennsylvania. And oh you guessed it. Curtis Bay Elementary in Baltimore, in 1992."

"Someone had bad school memories." Emily mumbled.

"Did he go to anymore elementary schools after that?" Hotch asked.

"Yes, Fairfax Villa Elementary in Fairfax, Virginia." Penelope said as she looked. "He was home schooled after that because he was bullied and punched a 10 year old girl."

"Fairfax is an hour and a half away from here, if he was on his way when he dumped the body, he'd already be there." Derek said.

"Garcia, I need you to get a SWAT team to the Elementary school. Lock it down. No one goes in or out. If he's there he'll panic and start shooting. We'll be there as soon as we can." Hotch said as he pulled out his phone to call Dave,it takes 20 minutes to fly from Baltimore to Fairfax. "They're going to come back here and wrap everything up, they're going to meet us in Fairfax in about an hour." Hotch said as he shut the phone. "Let's go." Derek walked out and Emily walked over quickly.

"Hotch," she said quickly, Hotch turned and looked at her. "Avery goes to Fairfax Villa."


	11. Chapter 11: Hostage Situation

The Little Things – 11

**Authors Note: Thanks for all the reviews :] I'm glad you like it so far and I'm sorry about that cliffhanger, I HAD to do it! :]**

**(Sorry I don't remember if I said Kayla's last name yet, If I did I'm sorry it's different.)**

**HERE IT IS! You're WELL deserved 3,000 word part. I really hope you like it.**

**And I'm sorry for all the 'x x x' s but I have to switch back and forth a lot.**

**I'm sorry it took so long for me to get this out, I haven't been home :] I HOPE you don't use it against me and not review :/**

**I know you wont forget to review because you guys have been great. So please review!**

"Well at least my daddy didn't leave me!" Kayla said to Avery, they were in the middle of a banter, that Kayla started. Avery was good at the arguing and keeping it at that, she never went to far in a fight. Even with Kayla.

"You don't know what happened!" Avery screamed as she pushed Kayla down on the ground, it was an impulse out of rage, she shouldn't be talking if she didn't know what happened.

"Avery, Kayla!" Ms. Chloe said as she ran over to the two girls. "Come inside," she said before bringing the two girls into her classroom. "You know it's not appropriate to _push _people." Avery stood with her arms crossed.

"She said something about my dad that wasn't true. She shouldn't have been talking." Avery said.

"Alright, well that wasn't nice Kayla, and neither was pushing her Avery. If we can't settle this right now you're going to have to go to the principle's office. Now, you two are big girls. I know you can settle this right now." Ms. Chloe smiled.

"I'm not going to be her friend, Ms. Chloe. I can't just forgive her, you don't understand." Avery said.

"Okay, well you two can't continue to fight. If this happens again you will sit in here for recess on opposite sides of the room until this is finished." Ms. Chloe said as the bell rang, she stood up straight. "Go sit down." she said before walking out of the room to great all the 5th graders that made their way into the class room, as her last child went into the room she turned to walk in.

"Ms. Chloe?" she heard an unfamiliar voice say, she looked up and saw a man that was in his early 30s, who covertly dropped something into her pocket. "The principle needs you in his office, he sent me to watch the class while you're gone." he said with a nod, Ms. Chloe nodded and looked at the ID tag around his neck before smiling and walking towards the principle's office. The man smirked and watched as she disappeared down the hall, he walked into the classroom and shut the door.

**x x x**

Hotch didn't know what to say when Emily told him that Avery goes to the school that is a potential target of a serial killer, especially when it had the most impact on his life, and they were suspecting something bigger than just an abduction because he was getting bolder and bolder since Maine.

30 minutes was too long, Emily was biting her thumbnail and staring out the window the whole time. Hotch was a little better at masking his emotions, he had his hands in his lap and he was looking out the window, his thoughts racing. It wasn't hitting Derek as hard as it was Emily and Hotch, he was just upset they were _right _there less than 4 hours ago and if they were down in Quantico it might not have happened this way.

**x x x**

"I am Mr. Simmons." Peter Simon said as he locked the door covertly and walked to the front of the classroom, a boy raised his hand, Peter raised his head. "Yes?"

"Where's Ms. Chloe?" the boy asked simply as Peter looked out the windows.

"She left early." he said. "We're going to watch a movie, though. Can you three in the back shut all the blinds?" he asked, the class cheered and the three in the back immediately shut the blinds, movies in school are 5th graders best friends.

Ms. Chloe made her way to the principles office.

"Did Principle Richard want to see me?" she asked the secretary.

"I don't think so, he's in a meeting right now." the secretary said, Ms. Chloe sighed and put her hands in her coat pocket. She felt a piece of paper, she pulled it out of her pocket and opened it slowly. 'I have a bomb, the doors are locked. Alert **everyone**. Tell them I said good luck.' Once she finished reading the letter she heard an alarm sound before hearing the principle's voice come on the loud speaker.

"We are issuing a code red. This is **not **a drill."

**x x x**

"Is he there?" Hotch asked as he walked over to the officer in charge, Derek and Emily were close behind him, all of them had bullet proof vests on.

"We've been communicating with the principle of the school by phone, he says one of the teachers left the room because a man told her he was a teacher and the principle needed to talk to her. She found a note in her pocket that said 'I have a bomb, the doors are locked. Alert everyone. Tell them I said good luck'." the officer said, Hotch nodded.

"We need to talk to the teacher and we need the note for further analysis." Hotch said, the officer nodded and grabbed the phone to call the principle's office.

"He said they're on their way out, and the room he's in is the one with the blinds shut, we can't get a clear shot." the officer said. "There she is." he said once he saw the teacher walk out after the doors were unlocked.

"Morgan, come with me." Hotch said as he walked over with Derek to talk to the teacher, coming back 10 minutes later. "I want all of the rooms evacuated besides room 112," Hotch said to the lead officer, who acted on that immediately.

"I told Garcia to send the list to one of us," Derek said as he walked over, putting his phone in his pocket. Students started coming out 10 minutes later, Emily watched attentively, scanning the children to find Avery. Her phone made a noise a few seconds later and she looked at it.

"I got the list," Emily said, Hotch walked over because he was the only one who heard. "There are 9 kids in that class, Kelly Abbit, Simon Clarke, Kayla Fisher, Morgan Grey, Michelle Garrot, Chelsea Martin, Riley O'Brien, Avery Prentiss-" Emily froze when she read the name off the list, she didn't have a second guess when she read 'Kayla Fisher's' name, even though her and Avery were in the same class. "Oh god."

**x x x**

"What was that?" one of the girls screeched when the principle's voice came on the loud speaker loudly, everyone covered their ears.

"That means there is code red. We all know what that means?" Peter Simon asked.

"We stay in the room away from the doors and windows." the 9 students said in unison, Peter Simon nodded as he started pacing from one side of the room to the other, all in front of the students.

"Do we know _why _we are having a code red?" he asked, Simon Clarke raised his hand and he picked on him.

"There might be a tornado?" Peter shook his head.

"A rabid bear could be loose from the woods!" Morgan Grey said, Peter shook his head again.

"No, no, no!" his voice escalated from a whisper to a scream, Avery gulped, she knew what he was going to say next. "It's because of me." he said with a smirk as he took a gun out of his pants, all of the kids gasped, Avery cautiously and slowly reached into her bag while he was too busy watching all the scared faces around the room. Riley O'Brien ran towards the door and tried to open it, Peter raised the gun to him. "SIT DOWN!" he screamed to the boy, who dropped his hand. "Go sit down." Riley walked back over to his seat with his head down and tears rolling down his eyes. "Now, we are all going to sit here in silence." he told the children as he walked towards the door and looked behind the shade to make sure no one was there.

**x x x**

There were so many things running Emily's head as she walked away from Hotch. _Why would someone do this? _That had an obvious answer, he's a psychopath. But other things that were running through her head were things like, _why is this happening? What are the odds? Why did I send Avery to school today? It's ALL my fault! _Even though it wasn't her fault, she still believed it was. Spencer could probably tell her the odds of this happening to an FBI Agents daughter, even that is slim. And _why _it was happening... no one could tell her the answer to that.

Emily felt her eyes burning, she couldn't loose it in front of her team... or _half _her team. It didn't matter, she still couldn't loose it. Hotch might know why if she did but then Derek would just ask a bunch of questions.

"Emily," Hotch said as he walked over to her with her phone in his hand after he skimmed down the list of everyone else, He was just as shocked as Emily, and he was thinking similar things. _How could I have prevented this? How could this be happening? __**Why **__is this happening?_ Emily sniffed in and turned towards him. "It says Avery is calling you." Hotch said, Emily looked at him and grabbed her phone and looked at the caller ID before putting it to her ear.

"Avery?" she asked into the phone, she heard shuffling noises before hearing a mans voice. She looked at Hotch. "I told her that whenever there's a hostage situation going on we try to get eyes and ears wherever they are when she asked me a while ago... she wants us to hear what's going on." Emily said, she was shocked that Avery would think about that, Avery had a lot of questions similar to that like 'what do you do when...', she was really intrested in what her mom did. And that's exactly why she did that.

"Keep her on the line," Hotch said as he walked over to the principle, asking if there was a phone in the room, which there was. He walked over to the officer and Emily followed behind him, listening to what was happening. Emily heard the phone ring through her phone, she listened and waited until he picked it up, she could only faintly hear what he said when he answered the phone. "Peter Simon? I am Supervisory Special Agent Aaron Hotchner with the Behavioral Analysis Unit in the FBI." Hotch said.

"Agent Aaron Hotchner with the FBI..." Emily faintly heard Peter Simon taunt.

"Yes, I would like to know how you are doing." Hotch said, personally he wanted to jump through the phone and ring his neck, but during negotiation he's supposed to keep his cool and make him seem comfortable, even though any negotiator doesn't want the _killer _or _hostage taker _to feel comfortable. That's the last thing they want. Emily heard Peter's sick, deranged laugh.

"No you wouldn't," he laughed. "Now, what do you really want Agent Hotchner?" he taunted, his voice reminded Emily of how George Foyet taunted Hotch. Emily wanted to punch the bastard in the face, she hated when serial killers taunted them.

"I think you know," Hotch said, Emily heard his deranged laugh once again.

"Well, you're not going to get it." he said, Hotch sighed and put the phone down, Emily bit her lip and looked at Hotch.

"Maybe we can see if Garcia can hack into the security cameras, I'm sure there's some in the classroom." Emily said, Hotch nodded and Morgan called Penelope, not even 10 minutes later they got the security cameras up and Penelope made it so they could see it on one of their computer.

"I'm going to call him back," Hotch said as he picked up the phone. Emily bit the inside of her lip as she still held the phone to her ear and listened, just like she had been the whole time. She also was watching the camera carefully. It only showed the back of the kids because of the way it was positioned, but Emily could tell which one Avery was. "Peter Simon, this is Agent Hotchner,"

"Well it's great to talk to you again." Emily heard Peter say through the phone.

"We would like to negotiate with you."

"Let me guess, you want the children and once I give them to you, you and your SWAT team will come kill me. Well how about if I kill them first?" Emily heard the kids gasp, she could tell how scared they were. They started looking around the room.

"It doesn't have to happen like that." Hotch told him, Peter laughed again, Emily gritted her teeth. "We have you surrounded, we don't want anyone to get hurt. If you let out the children and surrender you will not be killed."

"I'll be killed in jail, wont I?" he asked, Emily bit her lip.

"For the crimes you have previously committed, yes. It will help you greatly if you let the children go and cooperate." Hotch told him, Peter just shook his head and laughed. "When you are ready to negotiate you can call. The phone is wired to call this phone whenever you pick it up." Hotch told him, Emily heard a loud beep coming from the phone, she directed her attention to the computer screen. Peter's head shot up as he shut the phone and looked at all the children. "He hung up," Hotch sighed.

"I know," Emily said like she'd seen a ghost when she saw Peter scanning the children who all became scared.

"What was that?" he asked, Emily watched intensely as he walked down one isle, looking at all the children. She gulped, knowing that it was Avery's phone because it was out of battery, the only reason Emily _gave _her 10 year old a phone was because of her job, otherwise she wouldn't have. "Was that a _cell phone_?" Avery swiftly cupped the phone in her hands as she pushed it under her desk and tried to make it seem like it wasn't hers and that she didn't have one, her plan back fired when It made another noise and Peter shot his head over in Avery's direction. Avery pressed the 'end call' button as he walked over to the desk behind her.

"I-I don't have a cell phone..." Kelly Abbit mumbled as she held her hands up, Emily looked at her phone and noticed it was disconnected.

"Crap!" she mumbled as she looked at the security camera along with Hotch and Derek. Peter raised his head and looked over at Avery, who was sitting up straight, holding the phone in her lap. Avery gulped as she heard him walk closer and she felt something point into her side.

"Give me the phone." Peter said slowly, all Emily, Hotch and Morgan could see was Peter hovering over her, with a gun to her side. "I said... GIVE ME THE PHONE!" he said louder as he pushed the gun into her side. Avery's eyes started burning as she pulled the phone out, Peter grabbed it. "A 10 year old having a cell phone," he said as he stood up straight and opened it. "Oh! You were calling mommy!" he said as he turned towards her.

"Her mom works for the FBI." Kayla said, Avery glared at her and Peter walked over to her.

"Oh really," he said as he walked over to her. "What's your name?" he asked as he bent down to her level, Avery held back tears as she looked forward. "What is your name?" he asked as he pushed his gun to her side.

"Avery Prentiss!" She cried, Peter smiled.

"Thank you." he whispered in his ear as he walked over to the phone. Emily put her hands over her mouth and breathed in as an attempt to stop herself from crying, not here, not now. Peter picked up the phone and the phone started ringing a few seconds later. They all looked at it, Hotch closed his eyes slowly as he walked over to it and picked it up, putting it to his ear.

"Are you ready to negotiate?" Hotch asked him, Peter smiled.

"Yes," he said, Hotch closed his eyes for a second and let out a sigh of relief that only he could hear, then he opened his mouth to say something. "I want to talk to speak to Agent Prentiss."


	12. Chapter 12: Fear

The Little Things – 12

**Authors Note: I'm glad you guys liked the last part :] But my reviews are slipping, only about 2 or 3 reviews, but It's not making me to enthusiastic because that's the only way I know if you guys are liking it!**

**PLEASE DON'T forget to review!**

**I updated so quickly because of your encouragement- _your reviews_!**

Hotch raised his eyebrows. "How do you know there's an Agent Prentiss with us?" Emily gave him a confused look.

"It might be the last time she gets to talk to her daughter." Peter said with a smirk, Hotch looked down, Emily stepped closer to him.

"What? What is he saying?" she asked him, Hotch took a deep breath and covered the end of the phone.

"He wants to speak with you.." Hotch said on the quiet side, Emily looked at him.

"Well, give me the phone." she told him, Hotch hesitated, but Emily grabbed the phone from him and put it to her ear. "Agent Prentiss speaking." she said as she kept an eye on the security camera.

"I thought you'd like to talk to your daughter for the last time." Peter said as he looked at Avery. "Avery." he said, Avery didn't move, he raised his eyebrows and pointed the gun towards her. "Avery." he said, Avery tried to hold back tears as she walked over, Emily felt her eyes burning again as she watched Avery walk over to him and he gave the phone to her.

"Avery." Emily said calmly.

"Mom," she barely choked out.

"Avery, you to listen to me. Everything is going to be all right." she told her, tears ran down her face.

"Okay..." she stuttered.

"Can you do me a favor? I need you to get the blinds open somehow, if you can't it's okay." Emily said calmly.

"Okay.." Avery said, Peter pulled the phone away from her ear, he had no idea what Emily said. That was a mistake he shouldn't have made.

"Goodbye Agent Prentiss." he said as he hung up the phone, Emily put the phone down and whipped a tear that fell down her cheek and sniffed in.

"He's confident, he knows how this is going to pan out... he's a complete narcissist. Either way, he dies. He knows that." Emily told Hotch, Hotch let out a sigh and looked at her, Emily crossed her arms around her chest. They both knew the odds of those children getting out alive, they both knew the odds of Avery getting out alive. They knew the odds of them surviving and neither of them liked it.

**x x x**

Avery walked back towards her seat, and as she was she was pointing to the blinds and moving her hands upward because everyone was looking at her, she sat down and Jake, a classmate leaned over to her and whispered.

"How do we know when to do it?"

"Tell Ryan, Michelle and Harry to do it after my signal, then tell everyone to get on the floor." Avery whispered as she watched Peter as he finished talking to her mom.

"What's the signal?"

"They'll know." Avery whispered back as Peter hung up the phone.

**x x x**

Emily bit her lip and looked at the room where all the blinds were shut, praying that Avery would somehow pull it off. It might be their only hope.

"What's happening?" Derek asked, Emily looked at the security camera and saw Avery stand up and she looked like she was coughing. Peter yelled at her, there was no noise on the security camera, but they could tell he was yelling at her. Then she fell to the ground, Emily gasped and raised her eyebrows, then she saw Peter walk over to her slowly, followed by 3 kids running to the blinds.

"She did it." Emily whispered as all the blinds opened.

"TAKE THE SHOT!" Hotch yelled loudly, Peter didn't even get the chance to raise his gun at Avery and curse at her, he got half way through the word before he was shot and fell to the ground, Hotch, Emily and Derek were the first ones to run in with their guns up as a precaution. Derek jiggled the handle, it was locked from the inside. He kicked it open quickly and the three of them ran in, followed by the other officers following them. Derek walked over to Peter Simon and kicked the gun away before making sure he was dead, Derek nodded at Hotch and Emily, Emily already walked over to Avery, who was sitting on the floor.

"Avery," Emily said as she squatted down, Avery jumped up and hugged her tight.

"Mom!" she said, the officers took the children out, Emily looked at Hotch and Derek before grabbing Avery's hand and bringing her outside.

"Are you okay?" Emily asked as she picked her up and placed her in the back seat, it was a stupid question and she knew it. But she wasn't sure what to say, it hasn't exactly happened before. At this point she didn't even care that Avery called her 'mom' in front of Derek, or that she hugged her in front of him. That was the last thing on her mind. Avery nodded and tried to catch her breath. "You did a great job sweetie, I am so proud of you." Emily said as she hugged her, Avery nodded and then started crying into her shoulder.

"It was so scary mom.."

"I know, I know, shhh. It's okay." Emily told her as she rubbed her head and held her tight, letting every ounce of fear come out through her tears.

"I can't believe you wont let me in. I am an FBI Agent, I showed you my badge. Do you need to see my gun?" Emily heard a familiar voice say, she turned and saw JJ arguing with the cop. Emily told Avery to hold on a second as she quickly walked over to her and the officer she was arguing with.

"Let her through." Emily told him, he looked at JJ and then let her come through.

"_Thank you._" JJ said, she was angry. After what was happening and a cop wouldn't let an FBI Agent through. "I know I'm no longer with the BAU, but _come on, _I'm an FBI agent. Do I gotta shoot his foot for him to realize?"

"JJ, what are you doing here?" Emily asked, JJ's 9 to 5 liaison job didn't come with breaks, well at least _she _thought that.

"I heard what happened. I was on my lunch break, is that Avery? What happened? Oh my god, was she?" JJ asked quickly, then she realized that Avery was crying and she just put the pieces together, Emily nodded. "Oh.. is she okay?" JJ asked.

"She's shaken up. Can you stay with her for a second? I have to speak to Hotch." Emily said, JJ nodded.

"Of course." JJ said as she walked over to Avery to comfort her, Emily let out a sigh. She wanted to be hugging Avery right now, but she needed to talk to Hotch before _he _went over to her. Emily walked over to him.

"Hotch,"

"You can go home." he told her, Emily was taken back from his gesture. "You can have tomorrow off, even the rest of the week if you'd like. You should stay with Avery." he said, Emily sighed.

"What about-"

"Strauss?" he asked, she nodded.

"She knows about Avery," Emily confessed, Hotch raised his eyebrows. "Not that you..." Emily trailed off and Hotch nodded. 

"Right," he said. "You're taking tomorrow off, and you're leaving now. No exceptions." he told her, Emily sighed and looked at him. "I'll deal with Strauss."

"I-"

"Emily." he cut her off, Emily sighed. "You mine as well take the rest of the week off."

"Ha, no." Emily said as she turned around and started walking. "Tomorrow, only." she called back as she walked back to JJ and Avery.

"I gotta get back to work," JJ sighed.

"Go, don't worry. Thanks for coming." Emily told her.

"I'll stop by after work," JJ told her, Emily smiled and nodded. "I'll see you later, okay Avery?" Avery nodded too, JJ smiled and hugged her tight before walking away. Emily walked over to Avery.

"I'm sorry this happened..." Emily said.

"Can we just go home?" Avery asked as she looked up at Emily. "Please..."

**x x x**

"She must have been terrified..." JJ said as her and Emily she took a sip of her tea, Emily nodded.

"I was terrified," Emily said as she sniffed and stopped the tears from rolling down her face. "I thought of the worst..." Emily said as she shook her head. "I know I can't blame this on my job, because it would have happened either way..." Emily said, JJ nodded.

"Yes, and if you didn't go back to the BAU, think about how the outcome _could _have been? Avery wouldn't have known to make a diversion while her classmates opened the shades." JJ said, Emily sighed. "Avery's a smart girl, Emily." JJ said as she reached her hand over and grabbed Emily's. "Just like you, you've done a phenomenal job raising her. She will get past this, _you _will get past this." JJ told her, Emily smiled and wiped a few tears that fell.

"Thank you JJ. I don't know how I'd be able to survive without you." Emily said, JJ smiled.

"You wouldn't." JJ said with a smile, Emily laughed and let out a sigh as she shook her head with a smile. JJ looked at the time. "Is it really 8 already?" JJ asked as she sat up and looked at Emily. "Will's not going to be able to get Henry to sleep by his bed time and he's gonna be a brat in the morning, if you know what I mean." JJ said.

"Oh, I know what you mean." Emily said as she looked over at Avery, who was sleep on the couch.

"I wish I could stay longer..." JJ said as she stood up.

"No worries, you stayed long enough. Thanks for your help with Avery, though. You're great at telling her stories. She loves you." Emily said with a smile as she hugged her.

"You two take care, and don't be a stranger. Call if you need anything, and I mean _anything, _like food or medicine, or even the really good juice from that place on the other side of town..." JJ told her, Emily smiled as they walked towards the door.

"You've been enough help already, I don't think being on call 24/7 would benefit you much." Emily joked, JJ laughed.

"Yeah, well when you've got two boys in the house you _are _on call 24/7. Will wakes me up when he's too tired to get himself a snack in the middle of the night, so trust me. Driving 20 minutes in the middle of the night would benefit me. A _lot_." JJ said with a laugh, Emily laughed and shook her head.

"Bye Jayje." she said as she shut the door behind her, Emily let out a sigh and walked down the hall. It was only 8, but it felt like it was 11 to her. She looked at Avery and shrugged. "Maybe a good night sleep is something we both need." she said to herself as she shut the TV off and picked Avery up, letting out a loud groan. "You are _way _to old to be carried." she mumbled as she brought Avery to her room. Avery could sleep through anything, just like Emily.

**x x x**

Emily walked out of her room and walked into the kitchen, grabbing herself a glass and filling it up with water. She stood there drinking it for a few seconds before realizing how bright the sun was shining through the glass door, and that Avery was watching TV, Emily squinted her eyes and looked at the little clock on the stove. It was 10:48. Emily shut her eyes tight and opened them again to make sure she wasn't seeing things. She sighed and walked over to the coffee pot that was filled with _now cold _coffee. It was set on an alarm to start making around 6:30am. She put it in the microwave and looked over at Avery who was laying on the couch with an empty bowl of cereal on the coffee table.

"Hey sweetie.." she said as she took it out of the microwave and walked over to her, sitting on the chair next to her, Avery looked at her.

"Hi mom..." she said as she sat up and sat Indian style.

"You have no school for the rest of the week..." Emily told her as she blew on the coffee, Avery nodded.

"I know." she said with a shrug, Emily raised her eyebrows as she took a sip of coffee.

"I can only stay home today... are you okay with going to daycare tomorrow and Friday?" Emily asked, Avery nodded and looked back at the TV. Emily noticed she was watching_ Spongebob Squarepants_, which is Avery's favorite show.

"Hey mom..." Avery said a few minutes after staring at the screen, Emily looked at her.

"Mmm?" she asked in the middle of taking a sip of her coffee cup.

"Do you still work with my dad?" Avery asked her, Emily swallowed and looked at her, she was looking down at her hands now.

"Yes.. I do.." Emily said, wondering why she asked.

"Was he there yesterday?" she asked, Emily nodded. Avery let out a sigh.

"Is something wrong Avery?" Emily asked.

"I want to thank him." Avery said to her, then she let out a breath. "I really wanna meet him mom."


	13. Chapter 13: Pizza for Breakfast?

The Little Things – 13

**Authors Note: It's ALREADY part 13! I can't believe how long this story is so far. I'm really happy with the reviews I got so far also, so thank you so much for that. I know I say it constantly, but I just can't thank you enough!**

**Please review and I hope you like it!**

Emily pressed her lips together slowly and let out a breath as she leaned forward and put her coffee cup on the table as she looked at Avery. She wasn't sure how to start, she opened her mouth to say something with a breath, but paused as she looked down at her hands as she fidgeted with her hands. She sighed.

"Avery..." she began as she looked up at Avery, who was looking at her with hopeful eyes. Emily couldn't deny her seeing her father anymore. And when Avery asked to see him to _thank _him, well that just blew her mind. "I think that would be a great idea," Emily told her, Avery's face lit up. "I'll talk to him today and see what he says, okay?"

"Can I meet him today? Here? Please mom?" Avery asked with a smile, Emily bit her lip and nodded.

"I'll see what I can do Avery... but I'm not promising you anything right now, alright?" Emily asked, Avery nodded.

"Okay!" Avery said as she bounced back on the couch and smiled. Emily bit her lip and stood up, she reached over to grab Avery's bowl. "And mom?" Avery said, Emily looked up at her. "Thank you." Emily smiled as Avery directed her attention back to the TV, Emily walked to the kitchen and looked at Avery, who was still watching TV with a smile on her face. She pulled out her phone and looked down at it before searching for JJ's name in the contacts and putting the phone to her ear, she called her cell phone that _wasn't _her work phone she has 2 cellphones. It wasn't an emergency either so she didn't want to call the work phone.

"Hey, it's JJ. Leave a message with your name and number and I'll call you back when I can." the voice message said, Emily sighed and walked into her room.

"Hey Jayje, it's Em. I knew you wouldn't answer cause of work and stuff. Can you call me back when you have the time? Avery wants to meet Hotch.. today and I just need to talk to you. Call me when you get the chance." Emily said before hanging up, she let out another sigh and looked down at her phone, then she groaned and fell back onto her bed with a loud sigh.

**x x x**

"Hello, my dear, I wanted to call and see how you were doing.. you and Avery..." Penelope said into the phone once Emily answered, after 10 minutes of thinking in her room, she cooked lunch for Avery and her, they ate and she was watching TV with Avery until Penelope called.

"Hey, Pen." Emily said as she walked down the hall, she didn't want to interrupt Avery. "We're doing good, _she's _doing good..." Emily said.

"I'm glad..." Penelope trailed off.

"She's coping well, better then I would have at her age." Emily said as she realized Penelope's hesitation.

"She compartmentalizes like you?" Penelope asked with a smile, Emily laughed a little.

"Yeah," she said. "I guess so... I kind of just wish that she talked about it a little more besides just saying 'I'm fine, mom, don't worry about me'," Emily sighed.

"Well, sweetie, she was just introduced to _your _world and things _you _deal with. You should sit her down and have a conversation with her about it. I don't know her well, but I think she might not want to tell you because of that reason. She looks at you and how _you _deal with it and how _you _can handle it, by saying you're fine and telling people not to worry about you." Penelope said, Emily sighed.

"Yeah..." she said as she thought about it and looked over at Avery, she felt her eyes start to burn and she sniffed in quickly and wiped her eye. "Is there a case or anything? I want to make sure I don't miss anything..." Emily said quickly.

"No, there isn't a case, Em." Penelope told her, Emily nodded.

"Okay," Emily said as her voice slowly trailed off. "Avery wants to meet Hotch." Emily said, she didn't realize she blurted it out until after the fact. JJ didn't call her back, and she just need someone to talk about it with.

"Oh... well are you going to let her?" Penelope asked, she was shocked and caught off-guard.

"I don't know," Emily sighed. "Thanks for calling to ask how we are, and for the advice." Emily said.

"Any time my darling. If you need anything, just call me okay?"

"I will, Thanks Penelope." Emily said as she hung up the phone and looked over at Avery. She walked over to her and sat on the chair. "Avery..." Emily said, Avery looked at her.

"Yeah mom?" she asked, Emily opened her mouth to start talking, but paused and shut the TV off. "Is something wrong?" she asked.

"Yes.." Emily said unsurely. She sighed. "No," Emily said as she groaned. "I want to talk about what happened yesterday..." Emily told her.

"What do you mean? I told you I was okay.."

"I know that's what you said, Avery... but what happened is terrifying. It's not something that is okay the next day. I need you to talk to me about it, I know you might not want to. But it will make you feel better." Emily said, Avery looked down at her hands that were in her lap, Emily bit her lip and sighed before she sat next to her on the couch and moved Avery's hair behind her ear. "I was so scared, I was trying my best to act professional and trying to focus on getting everyone out safe. I couldn't stop thinking about how you were feeling, I couldn't stop thinking about what it'd be like to loose you," Emily said as her eyes started tearing up. "You were so good in there. I'm so proud of you Avery. You handled it so well." by now, a few tears were rolling down her cheeks. Avery looked up at her mom. Her eyes were watering and tears were falling down her cheeks, too.

"I was really scared, too mom. I thought he was going to kill me. I thought I would never be able to see you again, or meet my dad..." Avery cried. "I'm so glad you were there. I'm so glad nothing happened. I love you mom," Avery said as she jumped up and grabbed onto Emily's neck, holding her as tight as she could. Emily hugged her back as tight as she could.

"I love you so much, too Avery." Emily said as she hugged her.

**x x x**

"I'm sorry for calling like this... are you busy right now?" Emily asked into the phone, it was now 3pm.

"No, I'm not busy.. is something wrong?" Hotch asked.

"No.. I just uhm..." Emily trailed off and let out a sigh, she wasn't sure how to approach the whole thing. "Avery want's to meet you..." Emily told him. She wasn't too good at easy people into things. Hotch wasn't sure what to say.

"Really?" he asked, lost for words.

"Yeah... she said she really wants to thank you and meet you... tonight.." Emily said. "If you can't I can understand."

"I'll be off by 6 or 6:30. I can stop by on the way home..." Hotch offered, Emily smiled.

"That would be great.." Emily said.

"Alright, I will be there between 6:30 and 7." Hotch told her. "And Emily?"

"Yeah?" Emily asked.

"Thank you." Hotch said, Emily smiled.

"You're welcome..." she said before hanging up, she let out a sigh of relief, it went better then she'd thought it would. She smiled to herself, then realized Avery always says 'and mom', she didn't realize how much Hotch said 'and _' whenever he was thanking someone. She shrugged it off and walked back over to Avery to tell her.


	14. Chapter 14: The First Sight

The Little Things – 14

**Authors Note: Thanks for all the reviews, again. I told you I'm gonna say it every chapter cuz I'm just so thankful :P**

**I know most of the people reading this are mainly Hotch/Emily fans, but I have another fic up called 'Irresistible Temptations' with a JJ/Derek pairing. If you guys could also check that out too that would be amazing.**

**Anyway, I hope you like this part. PLEASE don't forget to review!**

"What do you want for dinner?" Emily asked as she finished putting the last thing away in the cabinet. Avery rested her chin in the palms of her hand, leaning her elbows on the granite counter, sitting in one of her favorite 'turny' stools.

"Mmmm." she mumbled in thought. "Ice cream!" she said as she stopped her hands and sat up straight, her face lighting up in a smile, Emily raised her eyebrows.

"No." she said, Avery pouted and thought again, even though she knew Emily wouldn't let her have ice cream for dinner, _maybe _for dessert if she ate something healthy.

"Uhmmmm..." she thought again, Emily raised her eyebrows, waiting for Avery to stop putting it off. Giving her the _mom_ look. "Okay, okay." Avery said as she put her palms on the table top. "I will have half of an organic chicken breast, with a small side white rice about this big-" Avery put her hands in a small circle. "-and some organic broccoli, but broccoli than rice because rice is a starch." Avery said, Emily nodded slowly.

"Okay, now do me a favor and go watch TV and don't come in here til I'm done, okay?" Emily asked, Avery nodded.

"Mhm, mama! I'll be in the living room, watching TV if you need me! So don't need me!" Avery said as she turned around in the stool, then hopped down, taking a few steps, then turning around and grabbing an apple from the place in the middle of the island, she smiled and then took a bite while walking into the living room, Emily laughed a little before shaking her head and she started to make the chicken and broccoli, the white rice was a left over from the other night. "Mom.." Avery said as she walked back over, Emily looked at her. "What's my his name?"

"Whose?" Emily asked as she flipped the chicken over.

"My dad..."

"Oh, his name is Aaron..." Emily said, Avery nodded.

"Why did you call him 'Hotch' the other day?" she asked.

"Because his last name is 'Hotchner' and it's just easier to say 'Hotch'." Emily said, Avery nodded slowly.

"Well, thanks!" she said before walking back into the living room, Emily just shrugged it off.

"Hello?" Emily said as she answered her phone.

"I just got off of work," JJ said, and without a pause she continued. "What did you say about Avery wanting to meet Hotch?" she asked quickly, she just listened to the message not even a minute ago, once she heard that she didn't even listen to the rest of the message.

"Oh," Emily said with a small laugh as she put the phone between her shoulder and cheek. "Avery wanted to meet Hotch, I just needed someone to talk to _before _I asked him." Emily said. "But Penelope called to see how I was doing so I just talked to her about it..."

"Sorry I couldn't call earlier. But you called him? Is he coming over?" JJ asked.

"Yeah, at around 7 or so. And it's what? 5:30 now? So an hour and a half." Emily said.

"Well, good." JJ said, Emily heard a knock at the door and made sure the food was okay to walk away from.

"Why is that good?" Emily asked as she walked towards the door, opening it.

"Because I'm here." she said with a smile as she walked in, Emily grabbed the phone and pressed the 'end call' button.

"No, no. Just come right in!" Emily said sarcastically with a smile, JJ smiled and walked over to the kitchen.

"Hey Ave," JJ said as she sat on the stool.

"Hi JJ." Avery said as she took another bite of her apple, her eyes glued on the TV. JJ looked at the food that was on the stove, then looked at Emily.

"Chicken with broccoli?"

"_Organic _chicken and broccoli." Emily corrected her as she handed JJ a glass of wine, something she always had when she came, and then she poured herself a glass. "Avery doesn't want to eat regular chicken because the farmers abuse them, and she wants organic broccoli because it hurts mommy's wallet more, right Avery?" Emily said as she looked over at her.

"Mhm, sure." Avery mumbled, she would have said that either way, Emily rolled her eyes and finished making the food.

"Want some?" Emily asked, JJ shook her head.

"No thanks, I'm good." she said with a smile. "I had a huge lunch, Brett decided to buy 2 extra pies of pizza and he made me eat 4 slices of it." JJ said with a smile.

"He _made _you?" Emily asked with raised eyebrows.

"Pizza?" Avery asked as she perked up and looked at them.

"Yes, tomorrow we're getting pizza." Emily said, then she looked at JJ. "Pizza is her life.. I can't stand the stuff." Emily said as she scrunched her nose and made a disgusted face.

"Hotch likes pizza." JJ said with a nod, Emily raised her eyebrows at her. "What? Whenever I said I was ordering lunch he was like 'can you get pizza'..." JJ said, Emily shook her head.

"Back to 4 slices of pizza..."

"It was calling me!" JJ said as she leaned back on the stool. "I'm gonna have to stop on the way home and get a new pair of pants... the stuff pizza does to me." JJ said in a dreamy voice as she shook her head, Emily just shook her head and chuckled while putting the food on two different plates.

"Isn't it the best JJ? I could just eat pizza all day, everyday!" Avery said as she walked over and sat down in one of the other stools. "But mom says I can't."

"The only nutritional value in pizza is sauce and cheese, every once in a while it's okay. But not everyday, do you know how much starch is in that?" Emily asked.

"It's so worth it..." Avery said with a dreamy sigh, just like JJ.

"Pound it sister." JJ said as she put her hand in a fist, Avery smiled and pounded it, Emily raised her eyebrows. "What?" she asked, Emily just shook her head.

"Eat your food before it gets cold." Emily said to Avery. "And you, drink your wine before it gets warm."

"Want some cheese with that whine?" Avery said with a smile.

**x x x**

"Thank you for the wonderful wine, Em." JJ said as she got up.

"Uh-oh." Avery said, Emily and JJ both looked at her. "You can't drive home with alcohol in your system! You'll get a ticket!" Avery said, just to be a ball buster.

"Sweetie, I'm an FBI agent. I just flash by badge like 'whaa' and they let me go in a heart beat. Or I just flash my award winning smile and wink and the boys let me fly right through." JJ said, Emily raised her eyebrows and patter her shoulder.

"She's a little to young for that." Emily said, JJ nodded.

"Well, I'm not drunk or anything. So it's fine. I'll see you tomorrow." JJ said as she kissed Avery's head. "Good luck with you-know-who." JJ said in more of a quieter voice, Emily smiled and hugged her.

"Thanks Jayje,"

"Call me if you need anything."

"Bye." Emily smiled as she walked out, she looked at Avery. "Ice cream?" Emily asked with raised eyebrows.

"You know it." Avery said with a smile, Emily smiled and laughed, she grabbed two bowls and the ice cream, and the scooper. "I would like 10 scoops please." Avery said with a smile.

"Yeah, 2's fine." Emily said as she scooped it in.

"3?" Avery asked. "Please." Emily looked up at her.

"Only if you promise to get ready for bed no later than 8:45." Emily said, usually her bed time was 8 on school nights, because she had to get up by 6:30, but tomorrow she had to get up by 7 because she was going to day care instead of school. Emily didn't want to make it 8:30, because that'd only leave about an hour with Hotch, seeing that it was 7:10 now.

"Okay." Avery said with a nod.

"With no arguing. And you have to be in bed by 9 after you get ready." Emily told her as she held the scoop up.

"I promise! Scoop it in!" Avery said, Emily laughed and smiled before putting it in.

"You better not by grouchy in the morning or else I'll make your bed time 7 tomorrow night. Okay?"

"Deal. Spoon please!" Emily smiled and handed her a spoon, before giving herself a couple scoops. Emily was putting the bowls in the sink and washing them off when the door bell rang. She suddenly felt butterflies in her stomach.

"Is that _him_?" Avery asked.

"It should be." Emily said, Avery nodded and straighten her back so she was sitting up completely straight and folding her hands, Emily raised her eyebrows. "What in the world.."

"Can you make him sit here? I have to ask him a few questions." Avery said, Emily gave her a confused look before heading for the door and opening it.

"I'm sorry I'm so late, I got caught up at work." Hotch said, Emily nodded.

"Don't worry about it," she said as she stepped away to make room for him, he walked in and she shut the door. "... I'm sorry if she interrogates you. She's in the interrogation mood apparently. I am not liable for _anything _she says." Emily said with a nervous laugh, just thinking _what is she going to do?_ She interrogates people because she thinks it fun, she did the same thing to JJ and Henry, even Will and she asks some pretty bizarre questions.

"I'll keep that in mind." Hotch told her with a small smile.

"She's over here." Emily said as she walked into kitchen, Avery was still in the same way she was when Emily walked away, sitting up straight with her hands folded. "Avery..." Emily began to say, but Avery immediately put her hands under the counter and relaxed once she saw Hotch walk into the room, she couldn't stay the way she was a couple seconds ago. She didn't think it'd effect her so much, but her _father _was standing right in front of her.

**Oh darn, I know. Another cliffhanger. I am so evil! Well they _met_ just no conversations happened between them next, I saved that for the NEXT chapter. So don't worry, you only have to wait for the next chapter :]**


	15. Chapter 15: Betting Pretzels

The Little Things – 15

**Authors Note: THE MOMENT YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR!**

**I hope you like it :]**

**I also make banners for my stories, I will gladly make banners for anyone :] Just message me, DON'T say it in a review.**

**Anyway, please review! :]**

"Avery?" Hotch asked her, Emily walked over to the other side of the kitchen, taking out two mugs and putting them on the counter, she already had coffee brewing. She decided she'd let them interact without her interruption. Avery nodded with a smile, she didn't reveal her teeth though, which made him smile. "May I sit?" he asked her, Avery nodded.

"Can I ask you a couple questions?" Avery asked as she squinted her eyebrows, Emily shook her head with a smile as she poured the coffee in the cups.

"Of course." Hotch said, Avery nodded.

"What's your favorite color?" Avery asked.

"Blue."

"When's your birthday?"

"November 2."

"What's your favorite food?"

"Pizza."

"Your second favorite?"

"Chicken."

"Chicken what?" Avery said as she squinted her eyes.

"Parmesan." Hotch answered.

"I have one more question." Avery told him as Emily put a cup of coffee on the counter in front of him, then she took a step back and leaned against the counter. Hotch nodded and took a sip of his coffee, glancing over at Emily and nodding at her to say 'thanks', Emily smiled and understood. "Whoa!" Avery said when she saw him pick up his coffee cup and take a sip, Hotch raised his eyebrows and Emily was curious to know why she said that. "You're left handed, too? I always wanted to know why _I _was left handed when my moms right handed." Avery said, Hotch smiled and Avery sighed. "I wanted to say thank you for getting me and my friends out safe the other day." she told him.

"Well, Avery... you played a pretty big part in that." Hotch said, Avery smiled.

"I'm glad you came today... oh! I just remembered..." Avery said as she jumped up and ran upstairs, Hotch looked over at Emily and she shrugged while sitting down diagonal from him as Avery walked back down. "I made this in art, it's a pencil holder thingy." Avery told him as she put it on the table.

"Wow, this is very good." Hotch said as he picked it up to look at it.

"I want you to have it." Avery said with a smile, Hotch raised his eyebrows and looked at her. "I don't use it for anything... and it's blue." Avery said with a smile.

"Thank you, Avery." Hotch said with a smile.

"How much longer til you have to go?" Avery asked him.

"I can stay for as long as your mother will let me." He said as he looked at Emily with a small smile.

"Great! Then you'll be able to play a game!" Avery said with a smile as she hoped off the stool.

"What game?"

"Lets play poker." Avery said with a smile as she looked at Emily.

"With pretzels or crackers?" Emily asked.

"Pretzels." Avery said with a smile.

"Alright, you go get the cards and I'll get the pretzels." Emily said, Avery smiled and ran upstairs to get them, Emily got off the stool. "I know what you're thinking," she said as she walked over to grab a bag of pretzels. "I taught my 10 year old daughter to gamble." she said as she put the pretzels on the table. "I got sick of go-fish and garbage can, or dumpster whatever it's called."

"Are you talking about that game called 'Trashcan' when you go down from 10 cards to 1 and you have to get them in order from the Ace to the 10 and going down each time?" Hotch asked, Emily rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, that." she said with a sigh. "It was so annoying, so I just taught her poker." Emily said with a shrug as she grabbed 3 bowls and put them on the table before sitting down.

"I wasn't going to judge you. It's completely acceptable to teach your child to gamble in a controlled environment." Hotch said with a small smirk, Emily raised her eyebrows. "I'm kidding." he said with a small chuckle.

"I got the cards," Avery said as she walked over. "Can you give us each 20 pretzels? And no breaking them." Avery said, Emily raised her eyebrows. "She cheats by breaking them." Avery said with a nod as she dealt the cards.

"I am not cheating, I'm just wasting less pretzels.." Emily told her.

"It's not wasting them if you eat them after." Avery said, Emily rolled her eyes as she counted out 20 pretzels and putting them in the bowls, sliding them over to Avery and them Hotch when she was finished. "Alright, this one is called 'Indian'."  
Avery said. "It's when you-"

"I think he knows how to play that one, Ave." Emily said as she looked at him. "Blind man's bluff." she told him, he nodded.

"Right, I actually do know how to play that one." Hotch said with a smile, Avery smiled.

"Alright. 1... 2... 3... GO!" Avery said with a smile as they all put the cards against their forehead. Avery looked over at Hotch's 8 and she smirked at Emily's 2. She knew she at least had to have more than a 2. "Can I bet 2 pretzels?" Avery asked, Emily smiled and nodded and looked at Hotch.

"Well, Avery. I raise your 2 pretzels to 4." Hotch said with a smile.

"Darn." Avery mumbled.

"I'm out." Emily said as she put the card face down, if she looked before the game was over, Avery would get mad at her and be like 'YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO LOOK AT THE CARD! Duh mom!'.

"Fine." Avery said as she put two extra pretzels out. "I wanna stay." she said.

"Can we look now?" Emily asked after Hotch stayed also.

"Yes." Avery said as she looked at her card, followed by Hotch and Emily. Emily smiled when she saw her 2, happy that she didn't bet pretzels. She wasn't much of a gambler. Pretzels or not. "Aww man. I was one away from winning." Avery said as she looked at her 7.

"At least it wasn't a 2." Hotch said with a shrug as he collected his pretzels, Emily glared at him in a playful way as he ate one.

"Hey," Avery exclaimed. "You can't eat them until someone wins."

"I wont tell if you don't." Hotch told her.

"Tell who?"

"The poker police." Hotch said, Avery laughed.

"Fine. But that means we each get to have one..." Avery said. "of your pretzels!" she exclaimed as she reached over and grabbed one of his, Hotch chuckled and Emily laughed.

"What game are we playing now?" Emily asked.

"Blackjack." Avery said as she shuffled the cards. By the time 8:45 rolled around, they were still playing, having fun and to Emily's surprise, Hotch was laughing, quite a bit.

"Alright," Emily said as she let out a sigh. "We should call it a tie." she said.

"Mom," Avery said. "You have 3 pretzels!" she exclaimed, Emily smiled.

"A tie sounded nice." she said as she ate a pretzel. "But it's 8:45, so you have to get to bed." Emily said, Avery sighed, but remembered she _was _staying up later than normal _and _she got 3 scoops of ice cream.

"Okay." she said. "Can I get ready for bed and come back here to eat the pretzels?" she asked, Emily nodded.

"As long as you're in bed by 9." she told her, Avery nodded.

"I'll be right back." she said as she got off the stool and walked upstairs. Emily took the last sip of her now cold coffee and walked over to get some more.

"I hope that's decaf," he said, Emily raised her eyebrows and looked at him. "You get really hyper from coffee at night, is all I'm saying." he said, Emily laughed.

"Well, _yes_ it is decaf" she said as she sat back down and took a couple of Avery's pretzels and ate them, Hotch raised his eyebrows.

"You steel your daughters winnings?" he asked.

"I taught her to play poker."

"I can tell. She plays dirty like you." he retorted. Emily chuckled and took a sip of her coffee.

"I hope you had fun.." Emily said as she looked down at the cup as she placed it on the counter top. "I can tell Avery did, too." she said with a smile.

"Well I'm glad she had fun, and yes, I did too." Hotch said. "I just hope she likes me.."

"Oh, she does." Emily said with a nod. "I don't think I've seen her laugh or smile that much, _ever_. And she smiles and laughs a lot." she said.

"Mom," Avery said as she walked over with her purple, pink and white stripped pajamas and her purple long sleeve pajama shirt. "You stole..." she said as she looked at the pretzels. "2 pretzels." Avery said, Emily's eyes widened.

"What? Avery, I am disappointed you put those allegations against me."

"Did she?" Avery asked as she looked at Hotch, who hoped she didn't.

"I don't want to get between you and your mother," he said. "But here's two pretzels, I think a mouse took them or something." Hotch said as he dropped two pretzels in her plate. Avery smiled and laughed as she started eating the pretzels.

"Does anyone want something to drink?"

"Apple Cider!" Avery said, Emily looked at her as she got up. "Please?" Emily smiled.

"What about you, Hotch?" Emily asked.

"Water's fine thanks." he said, Emily gave them their drinks.

"It's almost 9, Ave." Emily said as she put the cup on the table, Avery nodded as she swallowed the apple cider and finished the pretzels.

"Thanks for playing poker with me." Avery said as she got off the stool.

"Anytime Avery, it was fun." Hotch told her with a smile.

"I'm really glad you came," Avery said as she walked over and gave him a hug, Hotch didn't hesitate to hug back. "Night!" she said as she walked over to Emily and hugged her before walking upstairs. Emily looked at Hotch with a smile.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing... you're just good with her. I'm glad you came to see her." she said as she stood up and grabbed the empty cup and bowls.

"I'm glad you let me, so thank you for that." Hotch said.

"Do you have to get home?" Emily asked as she put the dishes in the sink.

"Yeah," Hotch said as he stood up.

"We should hang out again with her... I know she'd like it." Emily said, Hotch smiled.

"I would like that too." he said, Emily nodded, she's been wanting to ask him something the whole night... well since they talked about it to begin with, so as they were walking towards the door she blurted it out, half by accident and half purposely.

"You must completely hate me, I mean, it's been 10 years and before I came back to the BAU I had completely no intentions of telling you about her. And then when I do, you completely bounce back and are all happy. Obviously you'd be happy because you met her, but you're so understanding about this. It's not completely believable." she said, Hotch looked at her.

"I was disappointed, and frustrated and I wished you would have told me and things turned out differently. But then I thought about it, if you stayed at the BAU and told me, Strauss would have eventually figured it out and that wouldn't be bad for either of us. She already didn't like you because you declined her offer of sabotaging my career, and it would have made it all the more easier for her to fire you. Asking for a transfer was better in the long run. Because the team have already known by that point and we would have fought her about it and gotten no where. All it would have done was cause more problems then it did. However, if you didn't stay at the BAU and told me, things would also be different. But things turned out the way they did because of decision we _both _made." Hotch told her, Emily knew that would probably be his answer, but she wasn't convinced unless he said it. And with the sincerity he said it with, she knew he actually meant it. "And I'll say it now like I've said it before, and I probably will say it in the future. I am happy with the way things turned out, I'm not ecstatic I couldn't watch her grow up, but at least I can see her. There are fathers that never seen their 20 year old daughters and never can because they're in prison for life. Or there are fathers that don't even know about their daughter. You did an excellent job raising her, she's everything I'd hoped for in a daughter. She's beautiful, and sweet and intelligent." Emily smiled and felt her cheeks get hot.

"I'm sorry I'm I was so questionable about that... It's just the trust issues I have.. you know." she said, Hotch nodded.

"I completely understand." he assured her. "I'll see you at work tomorrow?" he asked, Emily nodded as he opened the door and walked out. Emily let out a sigh as she shut the door.

"That went better than I expected.."


	16. Chapter 16: Unknown Things

The Little Things – 16

**Authors Note: Sorry it took so long for me to update. I haven't been around the computer lately, this is the longest I've ever gone without updating The Little Things, and I'm sorry it took me forever. But here you go.**

**I asked for more reviewers for the encouragement and I got it, thank you.**

**I hope you guys are enjoying this, and I didn't mean by any means I would stop writing if I didn't get 3 more reviews. I was asking for it, and I would have ended up updating anymore.**

**The reason it took so long was because I was in a rut, known as writers block. But rest assured, things will start moving along again :]**

**Thanks for taking the time to read this! Please review!**

"Emily!" JJ said right when Emily answered her phone, it was 9am, Emily was on her way to the BAU.

"Sorry I didn't answer the first time you called, I was dropping Avery off.. and now I'm headed to the BAU." Emily told her, JJ could care less about what she just said.

"How was last night?"

"Oh, I'm great JJ! What about you? Good? Great!"

"Em..." JJ said, Emily sighed.

"It was fine, Jayje.. it actually went better than I expected..." Emily proceeded to tell her what happened last night, and how happy Avery seemed.

"I'm proud of you Em, and I'm glad Avery had fun and finally met Hotch." JJ said.

"Shouldn't you be working or something? Why are you able to talk right now?" Emily asked as she flashed the security guard her badge and walked to the elevator.

"I'm just awesome like that," JJ said with a small laugh. "No, I just had the time, so I figured 'why not call Em', and that leaves us here."

"Well, I'm glad you called," Emily said a the elevator dinged and Emily walked out of the elevator.

"And that's you're que... call me later, maybe we can grab a drink after work? Ask Pen if she can, too."

"Will do, I'll talk to later." Emily said as she looked down at her phone when it beeped. "Then again, maybe not." she said with a sigh.

"You gotta case?" JJ asked, Emily sighed.

"Maybe, I'll call you later though."

"Good luck." JJ said as she hung the phone up, Emily put the phone in her pocket and walked to the conference room where everyone was gathered and Penelope was just about to start briefing everyone.

"We're lucky this one is local, but it's pretty bad." Penelope said before explaining the case.

"Morgan and Prentiss go to the crime scene." Hotch said, both Derek and Emily nodded before leaving.

"It looks like it was a home invasion turned into a murder," Derek said as they walked in the room after coming from the crime scene with Emily.

"A flat screen TV was missing, a couple laptops and a chair." Emily said. "So there has to be at least 2 unsubs, and they needed something like a van to be able to carry all that stuff, and there were tire prints in the mud."

"Reid's working up a geographical profile with Garcia and Rossi went down to talk to the detective." Hotch said, they both nodded.

"Want me to go down see what Rossi's up to?" Derek asked, Hotch nodded as he looked at the board where the victims where.

"I'll go check up on Reid and Garcia.." Emily said, Hotch nodded and smiled as she walked away.

**x x x**

"What's that?" Emily asked as Spencer looked down at his phone.

"He's been sending texts every chance he gets." Penelope said with a smirk, Spencer rolled his eyes and put the phone in his pocket.

"Spencer has a girlfriend?" Emily asked as she raised her eyebrows.

"Can we please focus on the geographical profile?" Spencer asked as he looked at Penelope's computer screen, he was clearly flustered. Penelope smiled happily to herself as she pulled up the map.

"I thought you hated technology, Reid?"

"I do," he said, Emily raised her eyebrows. "Hotch doesn't." he said, Emily nodded slowly.

"Prentiss," Hotch said quickly as he came halfway into the doorway. Emily looked up. "Detective Hellar just found a van that was abandoned, come with me." he said, Emily nodded and stood up before following him out of the building and to the car. Hotch was focused, and Emily knew that, usually when he was extremely focused the car rides would be quiet. He'd be staring at the road, hoping that they'd catch these guys before another family was brutally murdered, as did the rest of the team.

"Why would they just leave the van here?" Emily asked as they got out of the car and stepped on the dirt road, it was truly in the middle of no where. "And how did we even know it was here?"

"We got a call from an anonymous caller." The detective answered, "And before you ask, it was from a pay phone about 15 minutes away from here. There's another set of tire marks that turned around up there." he said as he pointed.

"Thanks," Hotch said as they walked over, Emily followed him and stopped at the van.

"Are they taunting us?" she asked curiously. "I mean, why take the stuff, and dump it with the van? It doesn't make much sense." she said, Hotch nodded.

"They could be." he said with a shrug, Emily looked down at her watch. "You've been looking at your watch constantly." he mentioned as he looked around the van for any clues, Emily raised her eyebrows. "Is something happening later?"

"No," Emily spat as she looked around also. "Don't profile me, either, Hotch. I was just looking at my watch." she told him as she walked over to a set of tire marks that were sunk slightly more than the rest of them. "They must have been waiting.." she mentioned.

"Which could mean there is potentially more than one unsub." Hotch said as he walked over. "And I was just mentioning the fact that you've been looking at your watch every 10 minutes. You were doing it in the car, too."

"So that means we have absolutely no idea _where _these guys are going to strike next, or _when_." Emily said, Hotch nodded. "And if you must know," she said as he turned to walk towards the car, they got all they were going to from there. "Avery didn't have school today, and I guess I'm just worrying." she sighed as she got into the car. Hotch shook his head as he started the car. "What?" she asked him.

"Have I ever told you you worry to much?" he asked as he turned his head and backed up, Emily raised her eyebrows at him.

"I do _not _worry to much." she told him as she crossed her arm and looked out the window, Hotch rolled his eyes.

"Whatever." he sang as he pulled away, Emily just rolled her eyes. "I don't mind if you answer your phone.." Hotch told her as he noticed her being hesitant as the light of her phone went on every few minutes, it was now 8pm, so it was easy for him to see the light.

"What?" Emily asked as she looked up. "Sorry, is the light bothering you?" she asked, Hotch just shook his head. "And no one's calling... I just have a voice mail from Avery and I'm hesitating whether or not to listen to it now or later, just in case someone calls."

"Why would they call you?" Hotch asked, pointing out the fact that she was just making excuses. "And since when does a 10 year old have a cellphone?" Emily sighed.

"It's for emergencies only, and she doesn't have texting. I got it before I came back to the BAU, just in case something happens, ya know. And after what happened a couple days ago, I'm glad I got it." she said.

"Emily." he said. "Just listen to the voice mail." he told her, Emily sighed. She was about to start babbling, she just found it awkward listening to voice mails in an extremely quiet car. She pressed the button and put the phone to her ear, listening to the message.

"Hey... mom... I know that I'm not supposed to be calling you because you're working and stuff. But somethings wrong with..." she heard Avery say.

"AVERY! GET OFF THE PHONE BEFORE HE HEARS YOU!" she heard Henry scold her in the background.

"He's yelling and stuff and I gotta go..." Avery said.

"Don't let him see it!" Emily heard Henry say loudly in an attempt to whisper.

"Go upstairs you two!" she then heard a panicked voice say, that sounded a lot like JJ, then the line went dead.

"Sent at 7:54pm. No new messages." Emily let out a sigh.

"Oh god..." she mumbled as she looked down at the phone as Hotch pulling into the Bureau's parking lot.

"Is something wrong?" Hotch asked her as he put the car in park.

"Yes.." Emily said. "Wait.. no... I mean, I don't know." she sighed. "She said something was wrong and that _he _was yelling, then I heard JJ tell them to go upstairs. Who was _he_?" Emily asked, mainly she was asking herself.

"Do you need to see what's up?" Hotch asked her.

"No.." Emily said. "The case..."

"Isn't as important as them." Hotch told her. "We'll be fine, go see if anything's wrong. Call me if you need me." he told her, Emily nodded as she got out of the car.

"Thanks, I'll be back as soon as I can." she said as she rushed over to her car and started it.

**x x x**

A million things were running through her head as she ran up the stairs to JJ's condo. Most of the things were just praying they were okay, and she was wondering who _he _was. She put the key in and opened the door and walked in, laying her hand over her holstered gun just in case...


	17. Chapter 17: Trust

The Little Things – 17

**Authors Note: So I'm back in the groove. Once again, I am EXTREMELY sorry it took me so long to update last time.. writers block SUCKS! :]**

**Alright, so thank you so much for your reviews, I got 16 last part and that's AMAZING!  
So that's why I updated really fast this time! I hope you like it!**

**Please review!**

"JJ?" Emily asked when she heard someone crying, and it did sound a lot like JJ. She turned the corner and saw JJ sitting on the couch with her head in her hands. "JJ, what happened?" Emily asked as she walked over, looking at the broken vase of flowers on the floor and a fallen picture that was leaning against the wall.

"I punched him... I punched him..." JJ sobbed, Emily grabbed her hand and saw the small cut on her middle finger's knuckle. Emily looked back at JJ, who's head hung down in her other hand.

"Is aunt JJ okay?" Emily heard Avery say, Emily looked up to the stairs where Avery and Henry stood peering over the railing.

"Go upstairs, okay? I'll be up in a couple minutes." Emily said, they both nodded and looked back at JJ and let out a sigh. "JJ it's okay, you have a cut on your hand, let's go wash it off." Emily told her, JJ nodded and sniffed before following Emily into the kitchen. JJ sat on the stool and Emily grabbed the first aid kit that was in a cabinet and she walked over. "This is going to sting..." Emily told her as she ripped the alcohol pad open and lightly put it in the cut, JJ winced at the slight pain and moved her hair to show her the cut she had on her forehead. Emily sighed. "This is going to hurt, too." she mumbled as she put the alcohol pad onto the temple of her forehead, it wasn't as bad as the other cut, but it still needed to be cleaned. Emily put two pieces of tap on her forehead and sighed as she put everything down on the counter. "Do you wanna tell me what happened?" she asked, JJ looked down at the floor. "Take a deep breath.." Emily offered, JJ sighed and looked up at her.

"He came home..." JJ began to explain. "He was... he was drunk..." JJ said as she made a confused face as she looked at Emily's face. "He gets drunk no more than once a week," JJ told her, Emily nodded. JJ didn't want Emily to think he was a drunk, because Emily already sort of thought that. JJ looked down at the floor again, thinking back, trying to remember what exactly set him off, then she took a deep breath. "I was texting Spencer..." she said, then she let out a sigh. "I was telling Spencer about how Will and I haven't been getting along lately... I was standing near the counter and I guess I was laughing or something because he told me that you and Garcia were sure he was talking to a girlfriend..." JJ explained. "It was my fault he got angry..." JJ said as she looked at Emily.

"No, no. JJ it wasn't." Emily reassured her. "Want to finish telling me what happened?" Emily asked, JJ nodded.

"Right..." she said, she still believed it was her fault, but she knew she had to finish telling Emily, or else she'd get the wrong idea of Will, or ever _her._ "He asked what I was laughing about... and he caught me off guard because I didn't realize he was home, or drunk... So I told him it was nothing and put my phone on the counter before going back to making mac n' cheese.." JJ explained. "Oh god, it's probably burnt!" she said as she started to get up, Emily quickly stopped her.

"I'll get it," Emily offered as she walked over to the stove where the mac n' cheese was and pulled it out. "It looks perfect." Emily told her as she put it on the stove to cool off and shut it off before walking back over.

"Then he grabbed my phone and looked through it," JJ continued, knowing that Emily wanted her to. "I guess he must have seen all the messages and he just started yelling at me..." JJ started tearing up, having a flash back of what happened. _Is this what you want? Does he make you happy? _Her thoughts went off to exactly what happened after that.

"_Will, you don't understand, Spence is just a friend..." she tried to calm him down as she walked over to him. "Friends don't laugh about this!" Will exclaimed as he walked into the living room, JJ following close behind. She noticed Avery and Henry standing by the stairs. "Go upstairs you two!" she said quickly before anything went wrong. They quickly ran upstairs and she looked at Will, who was holding onto the phone tight with a look of despise on his face. "Will..." JJ said in a calm voice. "Maybe we can sit down and talk about this..." she told him, if he was sober, he wouldn't be acting like this and JJ knew that. He usually came home later when he was planing on getting drunk. But they were already fighting prior to this. "There's not time for talking..." he said in a low voice, JJ gave him a confused look. "What?" she asked. "There is no time for talking!" he said loudly as he grabbed her arm. "Will! You're hurting me!" she exclaimed as his grip tightened. "Good!" he said before pushing her away from him, causing her to hit a picture. His face fell from anger to sadness once he realized what he just did, JJ looked at him. "Don't you ever put your hands on me again, Will!" she screamed as she punched him in the mouth. "I want you out of here RIGHT now! You do not disrespect me or put your hands on me like that EVER again!" she screamed as she pushed him out the door and locked it._

"JJ..." Emily said as she put her hand on her shoulder, JJ let out a breath and looked at her.

"We got into a fight... I told the kids to go upstairs just in case something went bad.. He grabbed me and pushed me against the wall... and I just snapped. I punched him and told him never to put his hands on me again... I snapped Emily... I punched him... hard..." JJ said, she felt really bad for doing it.

"Well, he hurt you JJ... you don't know what he was going to do after that." Emily told her, JJ sighed.

"You should have seen his face when I was yelling at him..."

"He was drunk, Jayje." Emily pointed out. "He probably didn't even realize what was going on." she said, JJ nodded. "He'll wake up tomorrow on a friends couch and come crawling back to you tomorrow, then you guys will talk and everything will be fine. Bada-bing, bada-boom." Emily said, JJ didn't do anything and Emily looked at her with a look of concern. "What's wrong JJ?"

"I don't know..." JJ sighed as she looked up. "After what just happened, and how much we've been fighting lately... after we do talk about what happened tonight everything wont be fine. It'll just go back to the way it was before, the constant butting heads or the constant resentment." JJ explained. "I feel like the only reason we are together right now is because of Henry. I mean, it's been 14 years and we're still in the same place." Emily sighed.

"Well, that's something you should talk to Will about." Emily told her, JJ nodded.

"I'm sorry..." JJ said, Emily gave her a confused look. "You should be at work, you're on a case..."

"Hotch said I could come, besides, there are 4 other people working on the case right now. You are more important." Emily told her.

"I'm more important then a serial killer?" JJ asked with raised eyebrows.

"To me, yes." Emily said as she pulled her into a hug.

**x x x**

"Did I miss anything?" Emily asked as she walked over to Spencer and Penelope, who were in the conference room, putting the map on the projector.

"Hotch, Rossi and Morgan are checking out another crime scene," Penelope said. "So yes, you did miss another wonderful murder," she said, sarcastically of course.

"Where was this one?" Emily asked as she looked at the map.

"10 miles from where the van was dumped." Spencer said, Emily nodded slowly.

"How was JJ and the kids?" Penelope asked quickly once she remembered, Emily gave her a confused look, she almost whispered the last part. "I asked Hotch..." she explained, Spencer's back was facing them, but he was alert more than ever. JJ hasn't texted him back in over an hour.

"They're okay." Emily said. "I'll tell you about it later, though, we need to focus on this now." Emily said, Penelope nodded and Spencer got back to work.

**x x x**

"How was everything?" Hotch asked as he pulled Emily aside after they came back to the BAU after catching the four unsubs, well, they caught 2 of them, the other two made a suicide by cop. And it was later the next day, Hotch never got the time to pull her aside to talk to her.

"It was fine..." Emily said, Hotch raised his eyebrows. "It's personal, but everyone was fine." she explained, Hotch nodded.

"I also have to talk to you about something else," Hotch said, Emily nodded. "Strauss wanted me to ask if you could go to a conference on Linguistics in a couple of weeks and she would like it if you could go, but you can talk to her about it." he told her, Emily nodded slowly.

"Do you know where it is, and for how long?"

"California... for 4 days." Hotch answered, Emily nodded.

"I probably wont be able to... but I'll talk to her."

"Is it because of Avery? Because if you're worried about someone watching her, she can stay with Jack and I. I have a day off that week." he said, Emily nodded.

"I just have to see if it'll work for me... but we'll talk. Thanks for the offer though." Emily said with a smile. "See you tomorrow." she said as she turned to go out. She honestly didn't know about leaving Avery with Hotch for 4 days. They just met 2 days ago, but she'd talk to JJ about it.

"Hey..." JJ said as she took containers of food out of the fridge and put them on the counter next to a plate.

"Piggin out?" Emily asked with a raised eyebrow as she sat down at the table.

"Yeah..." JJ said with a shrug. "Want some?" she asked.

"Sure," Emily said, JJ grabbed a plate and put some food on it. Emily looked around, it was 8pm and Will wasn't there, and it was unusually quiet. "Where's the kids?" Emily asked.

"Upstairs playing on the computer." JJ said as she put the food in the microwave. Emily nodded slowly.

"And Will?" Emily asked.

"He's going back to New Orleans." she said, Emily nodded.

"So you guys talked?" Emily asked, JJ nodded.

"We just realized how much we weren't in love anymore, and I could tell he's been missing home." JJ said as she pulled the plates out of the microwave. "He'll be back in a month, and we decided we'll talk about everything when he gets back." she said, Emily nodded.

"And are you happy with that?" Emily asked, JJ sighed as she looked at her and took a bite of the food.

"Surprisingly, yes. I think the time away from each other will be good..." JJ said, Emily smiled.

"Well I'm glad you too are starting to figure things out." Emily said as she ate some of the food.

"So, anything new with you and Hotch?" JJ asked with a smile, which caused Emily to smile. There was the JJ Emily knew and loved.

"No, there isn't." Emily told her. "But there's a conference in a couple weeks that Strauss wants me to go on... but I don't think I will..."

"Why not? Is it cause of Avery? Cause I'll watch her." JJ offered.

"Nah, I'm not sure... I mean, Hotch offered to watch Avery, but they just met, ya know..."

"Well," JJ said with a loud sigh. "If I wasn't your friend, I wouldn't tell you this." she announced. "You need to go on that conference and trust Hotch with Avery."


	18. Chapter 18: Choices

The Little Things – 18

**Authors Note: Can you believe it's already part 18? I can't!**

**I'm glad you guys are still intrested!**

**Thanks for your reviews and I asked 'energis121' for a trailer and she said she would make me one :]**

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"I talked to Strauss about that conference..." Emily mentioned after a short awkward silence while making herself coffee, with Hotch standing there. It was now Monday, and they had the weekend off. Like usual, if they were lucky enough _not _to have a case. Hotch looked up at her.

"Really?" he asked with a skeptical tone, wondering what she had said. But had no doubt in his mind that she told Strauss she'd be going, otherwise she wouldn't have brought it up as casually as she did.

"No." Emily said with a shrug. "I lied." she said, sarcastically of course, making Hotch raise an eyebrow at her. "I told her I could go... so if that offer still stands..."

"Of course it does." Hotch said, Emily smiled.

"We'll have to talk out all the details before then..." Emily said as she finished stirring sugar in her coffee, Hotch nodded, agreeing.

"We'll have dinner sometime." he said, Emily nodded. "I also haven't gotten around to telling Jack about Avery..." he said as his head hung down, Emily raised her eyebrows.

"Mm?" she asked as she took a sip of the coffee to test it.

"Don't judge me because of it." Hotch told her.

"I'm not, all I said was 'mm?' as in, 'oh really, Hotch, tell me more', I really don't think I'm one to judge about something like that." Emily explained.

"I didn't mean it like that." Hotch said, Emily nodded.

"I know, but Jack's easy going... I'm pretty sure he'll understand." Emily said with a shrug. "But he's a teenager," she remembered, Hotch nodded. "Good luck with that." Emily said with a smile as she began to walk away.

"Emily," Hotch said quickly, Emily turned around on her heal. "I was actually hoping you'd help me with that, because then I'll have to tell him about _what _exactly happened."

"And you need _my _help with telling him that? You were there... weren't you?" Emily asked, Hotch sighed.

"Yes, Emily. I was." he said, Emily smirked.

"Just tell him about her.. and then go from there. See if he has any questions, and from there on." Emily said with a shrug. "That's all I can help you with... I have a girl and she's not a teenager yet, so don't expect expert advice." Emily warned.

"That was good enough," Hotch said. "Thank you." he sounded relieved.

"Welcome." Emily said as she walked over to her desk.

**x x x**

"Hey Ave..." Emily said as she looked back at Avery in the rear view mirror.

"Yeah mom?" Avery asked as she looked up from her phone, Tetris does come in handy.

"I have a conference to go on in a couple weeks for 4 days..." Emily explained, she paused to see if Avery was going to say anything. "It's only for 4 days and my boss really wants me to go."

"Where is it?" was all she asked.

"California..." Emily said. "It's only for 4 days, think of it like a case..."

"So I'll be staying with JJ and Henry?" Avery asked.

"Not this time... Hot- your dad actually offered for you to stay with him, and I said that would be alright." Emily said, Avery smiled wide.

"Really? So I get to stay with him for 4 days?" Avery asked with the biggest smile Emily's ever seen on her face.

"Yeah," Emily smiled. "He has a 16 year old son though..." Emily said, Avery nodded.

"So I have an older brother?"

"_Half _brother." Emily said quickly. "He was born before I met your dad." she told her, Avery nodded.

"Cool. I always wanted an older brother that was more related to me then Henry! Cause Henry's already like my big brother. He said he loved me like a little sister. And he'd do anything for me." Avery said with a smile, Emily smiled.

"Well, I'm glad you're excited." Emily said. "But it's going to be similar to when you stay with Henry. You're still going to go to day care and get picked up around 6:30. And you have to be nice in the morning." Emily told her, Avery nodded.

"I will, I wont say anything that you wouldn't want me to." Avery said, Emily nodded.

"And no back talking, even if you laugh afterwords because your dad wont let it slide." Emily said, Avery giggled and Emily looked at her through the rear view mirror again.

"Okay mom! No back talking. I have to be nice in the morning, and I need to be good. I got it." Avery said, Emily smiled.

"Pizza for dinner?" Emily asked.

"YEAH!" Avery exclaimed.

**x x x**

"Jack, I need to talk to you about something..." Hotch said as he found his son doing something that he rarely saw him doing, which made him not want to interrupt him even more, but he knew that he had to eventually, and he shouldn't put it off any longer. Jack looked up at him and shut the TV off. "Sorry to interrupt you, but this is important..."

"It's okay..." Jack said, talking to his dad in serious situations was sometimes intimidating, and at the least bit awkward. They usually didn't get to talk as much as they would both like, but between his job and Jack studying they hardly got that much time to talk. "What do you need to talk to me about? Did I do something wrong?" Jack always second guesses himself, especially around Hotch. He seems so much like a perfectionist and Jack just wants to make him happy.

"Of course not, it has something to do with Emily..." Hotch said, Jack nodded. Suddenly wondering _what _it could possibly have to do with Emily. The first thing that crossed his mind was that they were dating or something like that. "First, I would like to know if you actually remember her, it was a long time ago, you were 4 when you met her..."

"Yeah, I remember her." Jack answered, but his thoughts continued. _She's left just like mom did._ At the time, he was too young to understand _what _actually happened with his mother, and he blamed her for the situation, mainly because she left his dad in the first place.

"Well, she and I were together shortly after mom died... I didn't mention it to you at the time because I didn't think you would fully understand the situation. But, around 10 years ago she left the Bureau because she was in a predicament..." Hotch began, Jack nodded slowly, understanding. "Well, a couple weeks ago I became aware _why _she left. And I know this is going to shock you, just as much as it shocked me... you have a younger sister, well a half sister..." Hotch said the last part was harder to get out then he'd thought it would be. Jack was completely shocked, and his face showed it.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier.." was all Jack could think to ask, he knew he probably shouldn't be mad, but his mind raced and it made him angry with the situation.

"I know I should have told you as soon as I found out, but I wasn't sure if I'd be able to even meet her, but the other night when I said I was going to be late I went to see her, and I knew I needed to tell you then, but then the case.." Hotch's voice trailed off.

"Why wouldn't _you _be able to meet _your _daughter? Was she really going to tell you and then keep you from her? What kind of person would do that?" Jack asked, once again, getting angry. And all the questions racing through his mind.

"You don't know the situation she was in-" Hotch began.

"She kept the fact that you had a daughter from her!" Jack exclaimed as he jumped to his feet, Hotch was shocked to get this reaction from him. "All she did was run away, that's not much of a situation, all she did was _leave_ just like mom!" Jack said as he ran upstairs, Hotch opened his mouth to say something, but what could he say? Him and Jack haven't gotten into a fight like _this_, Jack as never gotten angry like this before. He just had no idea what to do.

**x x x**

"So Avery's excited about staying with you and Jack.." Emily said as her and Hotch went through case files, later the next day. Derek went to the bathroom, Dave never showed up for the briefings and Spencer had another appointment.

"I wish I could say the same about Jack.." Hotch mumbled as he opened a case file. "Two white men were killed, both in their early 30s." Hotch read, Emily thought.

"They should find any connection between both men and then go from there." Emily said, Hotch nodded as she typed it up. They would go through case files that detectives or sheriffs asked for help with, type some stuff up and then send it to them. They're the cases that aren't as eager. They usually do it everyday around 4:30 to 5:30, sometimes longer. But Rossi usually did this stuff on his own. "What happened? I was pretty he'd understand.." Emily said as she typed some stuff up. Hotch nodded.

"Me too.. he just sort of snapped, I guess. I've never seen him upset like that.." Hotch said, Emily was quiet, she pushed her lips together as she typed some stuff up. "Not because of Avery, he just doesn't understand the situation fully, because Haley choose to leave..."

"And he thinks I did, too?" Emily asked, that's the thing she was most worried about.

"No he just-" Hotch began, suddenly regretting even saying anything.

"What did I miss?" Derek asked as he walked in.


	19. Chapter 19: Point Blank

The Little Things – 19

**Authors Note: ****: Hey guys! I just wanted to start by saying 'The Little Things' is around the corner for 200 reviews... And I only have 19 chapters. And that's because of you guys. **

**This story is probably my favorite out of all the ones I've written (Criminal Minds and not), it definitely is the best thing I've ever written aside form JUST Criminal Minds.**

**So I had an idea, why not write a Prentiss/Hotch one shot as a little reward for you guys? I've never written a Hotch/ Prentiss one shot either, so it'll be good, Hopefully. **

**So in your review to THIS chapter, leave a prompt for a one shot, that will have NOTHING to do with this story. And I don't do rated M :/ So just make sure that when you leave a review, add a little prompt at the end like 'prompt: Hotch gets jealous of...' or something. **

**I'll pick whichever appeals to me the most, and I'll read and review any fanfic of yours as a little reward thing :]**

**The prompt is only for this chapter :]**

**Anyway, sorry for the LONG authors note, but I just wanted to thank you guys for the reviews and say I'm happy you guys like this because I love writing this story, it's fun.**

**And this part is shorter than normal... I'm sorry for that, I needed a good cliff hanger though :P**

**Don't forget to review, or add a prompt.**

"Hotch told me Jack totally flipped when he told him about Avery..." Emily mentioned nonchalantly to JJ as they walked along the side walk later that night with Avery and Henry not to far ahead, JJ looked at her and her eyes slightly widened. "Because I left," she said with a nod. "I feel horrible, I should have thought about poor Jack and how he would feel, he means everything to me." Emily said, JJ nodded.

"Well, Em, what do I tell you all the time?" JJ asked as she took a sip of her coffee, Emily sighed.

"I can't change the past," Emily said in a slightly aggravated tone as she took a sip of her coffee. "But I mean I wish I-"

"Wishing wont change a thing." JJ told her. "Believe me, I've wished Orlando Bloom was next to me when I wake up in the morning for years, still hasn't happened."

"That could actually happen," Emily pondered.

"And you can't change the past. So you just got to the same conclusion I would have If I told you. Orlando Bloom is possible, changing the past isn't." JJ said, Emily rolled her eyes.

"By the way, Penelope said she might meet up with us," Emily said as she looked down at her phone. "She said she'd text me when she gets around the area to see where we can hang out."

"What about Avery?" JJ asked with a confused expression.

"Pen knows, remember Jayje? She's the reason Hotch found out, well I guess Hotch is the reason _she _found out..." Emily said with a shrug.

"Right, I keep forgetting that." JJ said as she took a sip of her coffee and looked over at Avery and Henry, Henry was holding onto her arm as they crossed the small side street, which made her smile.

"So what's up with you and Spence?" Emily asked curiously as she took a sip of her coffee and looked in the direction she was.

"I don't think Avery and Henry should be crossing the street by themselves," JJ said as she rushed over, she said in in a 'I'm-totally-going-to-pretend-like-you-NEVER-said-that' tone. Emily chuckled to herself and shook her head as she followed her.

**x x x**

"So how's Henry dealing with the whole situation?" Penelope asked, JJ just got finished telling her about the whole situation with her and Will, JJ shrugged.

"He said he understood, the last thing I want is for him to get angry with Will, he's never tried to hurt me before and it was a mutual decision, he's pretty much occupied, between school, soccer practice, daycare, and home with Avery there most of the time. So he's pretty much handling it well." she said with a nod as she looked over at Henry, who was playing pinball.

"Can I have another slice mom? Please?" Avery asked as she shook up and down, like jumping up and down without leaving the floor, Emily raised her eyebrows.

"How much candy did you have?"

"Only 5 pieces! Can I please have another slice? PIZZA." she said 'pizza' in a tone that seemed like it was the only thing she wanted and she longer for it, Emily raised her eyebrows.

"Uhh, fine, But that's your last slice, you've already had 2." Emily said as she put a slice on a plate and handed it to her.

"Thanks. Bye." she said quickly before walking away. Emily looked back over at Penelope and JJ.

"She likes pizza?" Penelope asked, Emily nodded.

"You have **no **idea. I don't even like pizza that much, now I almost hate it." Emily said.

"Hotch _loves _pizza." JJ said, Penelope laughed and Emily looked at her.

"Really? Wanna know who I heard loves pizza?"Emily asked, JJ raised her eyebrows as if to ask 'who'. "_Spencer_." Emily said, JJ immediately grabbed her drink.

"He hates pizza." she said quickly before taking a sip, Emily glanced over at Penelope with her eyebrows raised, Penelope let out a laugh, casuing Emily to laugh and hit JJ's arm lightly.

"And you would know."

"Dude, we practically lived with each other for 8 years." JJ retorted, Penelope laughed and took a drink, and Emily just shook her head and took a bite of her salad.

**x x x**

"I didn't mean to offended you the other day.." Hotch mentioned to Emily as they drove over to Alexandria, which was a good 35 to 40 minute drive. An officer called Hotch about a minor case they had and wanted them to stop by, and they were buddies, so of course Hotch said he would. And he asked Emily to go with him, mainly because he would rather not be stuck with Spencer in a car for 40 minutes, he wouldn't have minded having a car ride with Derek or Rossi on the other hand, but he wanted to talk to Emily.

"You didn't." Emily said as she looked out the window, coming off a little harsher then she meant to. "... Did you get things straightened out yet?" she asked after she realized how she sounded.

"Well I told him not to blame you because he shouldn't and that it's very complicated..." Hotch said, Emily nodded. "Then I told him that Avery might spend a few days with us, he was less aggravated last night." he said, Emily nodded.

"I would like to talk to him sometime if that's okay with you..." Emily said, Hotch glanced over at her then back to the road.

"You don't have to do that-"

"I know." Emily said. "I want to.. I _need _to." she corrected herself, Hotch glanced over at her like that. "Don't look at me like that," she warned. "I feel like I owe him an explanation and an apology at the very least. He was 6 when I left and he looked up to me..." she explained.

"Thank you for thinking of him..." Hotch said. "I'm sure he'll like that a lot." he continued, Emily nodded as she looked out the window. "We have 10 minutes before Detective McKay wants us to meet him at the police station." Hotch said as they walked into the crime scene at the office building.

"So the unsub waited until he made his way through the back hallway where there were no vacant offices around.." Emily noticed as she leaned over to see down the hallway. "But where was he going?" Emily asked.

"It happened after 5 last night, so maybe he was doing to punch out, this is a short cut." Hotch said as he walked towards where they usually went to punch out.

"But this section is under construction..." Emily said as she moved back the plastic and looked down at the dried blood on the floor, then on the wall, she walked over to see if anything in the area looked out of place, there was a knocked over paint can, and a latter set up next to it, which wasn't that unusual. "How did they say he was killed?" Emily asked on the louder side for Hotch to hear as she looked at the blood spatter pattern.

"They said he was shot twice in the chest, once in the back of the head." Hotch called back, Emily nodded slowly as she studied the splatter. "He was shot in the head first." he said again, Emily looked at the floor. She heard the floor creak, thinking it was Hotch she continued to talk to him.

"He was shot from point-blank?" Emily asked in a normal voice.

"What?" Hotch asked as he turned around and walked back over to where they were before. "Did you say something?" he asked as he watched her push the plastic that was hanging in the doorway to the side.

"Hotch..." she said steadily and calmly as she walked forward with her hand up, shoulders length, Hotch's eyebrows scrunched together before his eyes widened when he saw a man behind her holding a gun to the back of her head.


	20. Chapter 20: Realizations

The Little Things – 20

**Authors Note: Thanks for your reviews! I hope you like this part and I'm sorry it was so short last time.**

**I only got a couple prompts, but I'll post that one shot within the next week :]**

**Please review! :]**

Hotch reached for his gun and pulled it out of the holster.

"Put it down or I'll shoot her." he told him as he pulled Emily closer to him and put the gun to the side of her head, Hotch looked at Emily as the guy looked at him."I'll do it, just like I did to him." he said as he moved the gun to the back of her head and pushed it against her head. Emily gulped and closed her eyes for a second before looking at Hotch.

"Alright," Hotch said as he put the gun down.

"Kick it to me." Hotch looked at Emily and kicked it towards him, he kicked it to the left and it hit the far wall.

"We are with the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI," Hotch began to say. "Let her go and we can talk about this..." Hotch told him.

"You think I'm stupid?" he retorted. "No, see because if I let her go, she'll take her gun and shoot me. Or you'll just take me in."

"We would have done that either way." Emily spat, despite the fact that there was a gun pointing to the back of her head, she didn't care.

"Do you want me to blow your head off right now?" he said as he pushed the gun into the back of her head, Hotch's eyes widened at her.

"You wouldn't do that," she told him.

"Yes I will." he warned.

"No," Emily said. "You wont."

"You wanna bet?"

"Do you want to know how I know?" Emily asked, Hotch shook his head at her, mainly because they didn't even know his profile, but Emily was sure she did. "You kill men because you like to feel powerful. If you kill me, you wont feel so powerful. That's why you really wanted to wait until he turned his back, but the floor creaked and you didn't want me to turn around and shoot you." she told him, he didn't say anything.

"Shut up or I'll blow you're head off." he said as he pushed the gun into the back of her head more, putting a slight amount of pressure on the trigger.

"Hey Aaron!" Hotch heard, he looked over to his friend, Tony McKay said as he walked over, Emily felt the gun leave her head and she heard a gun shot, it happened in the blink of an eye. Detective McKay was on the floor, gun shot to ht right side of the chest. Then she felt the gun on her hip being pulled out of the holster, followed by an empty presence as he ran out. Hotch ran over to Detective McKay and Emily lunged for Hotch's gun and took of in a sprint after the unsub, he fired behind him, totally missing her and hitting the wall. Emily fired back, shooting the trigger twice in a row, he fell to the ground and Emily put the gun in her holster as she grabbed his hands behind his back and she cuffed him, pulling him to his feet.

"You're gonna get hit big-time for this." she said in his ear as she pushed him towards Hotch. "I got him.." Emily said, Hotch wasn't exactly expecting her to go after him, he was making sure his friend was okay.

**x x x**

"How are you doing?" Emily asked, they were driving back to the BAU.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" Hotch asked. "You're the one that had a gun to the back of your head..."

"Your friend just got shot." she said. "So, you win." she told him, Hotch let out a sigh. "He's okay though, so that's a good thing..." she said, Hotch nodded, but didn't say anything about that. But a few seconds later he finally asked:

"How did you know that about him? I mean, I understand how you figured some of it out, but off that top of your head? And while you have a gun to the back for your head? When I told you not to?" He was more upset with the situation- and himself in that situation.

"His hand was shaking... he was hesitant to shoot me, which meant he wouldn't have.." Emily said.

"You don't know that."

"So, what? If I didn't say that he probably would have shot you, then me and that would have been worse, I had to do something... are you really going to get mad? I had to stall, did you expect me to just stand there with a gun to my head? You would have done the same thing.." Emily said, she was sure he would have if she didn't, and he would have if his mind wasn't completely racing. "Why didn't you?" she asked him, Hotch was caught off guard.

"I was going to.." he said, Emily looked at him.

"Why do you sound like you're trying to convince _yourself_?" she asked, by the tone of his voice that's what it sounded like. Hotch sighed.

"I'm not- I was going to," he groaned, he was switching from sentence to sentence, trying to think of what to say exactly, his grip tightened on his steering wheel. "I would have... but by the time my thoughts stopped racing it probably would have been too late." he confessed with a defeated tone of voice. "I froze, Emily... I was thinking that I don't think I could handle it if you left again..." he barely chocked out the last part as he glanced over at Emily, who was completely shocked, she looked at him when he looked at her and noticed his eyes were watering. "I just got you back, Emily.." he said as he stared at the road.

"I'm sorry..." she said as she looked out the window, she's seen him cry before, but that was only once when he was scared about Jack after Foyet stabbed him.

"It's not your fault." Hotch said as he focused on holding back tears. Emily honestly had no idea what to say, there it was, again, the fact that she left being rubbed in her face. But tonight, she regretted it the most.

**x x x**

"But can't we stay later tonight?" Avery asked Emily, who was now at JJ's house.

"No, Ave. I told you, you have to get to bed at a decent hour. You're going to your dads tomorrow and I don't want you to be grumpy." Emily said, Avery groaned.

"But mom!"

"10 minutes Avery." Emily told her, Avery sighed and walked away, Emily rolled her eyes and looked at JJ.

"Nice job, sticking to the guns." JJ said with a smile. "I am so glad I did that with Hen, I mean, have you seen the way the kids at their daycare act? Spoiled brats." JJ said as she shook her head and got up to get themselves more tea, ever since she hasn't been working at the BAU she's been drinking more tea, Emily didn't mind tea.

"So.. Jayje... what's up with you and Spencer..?" she asked inconspicuously, JJ shrugged as she poured the warm water into the two cups.

"What do you mean, 'what's up with us'?" JJ asked as she walked over and sat across from her and put the mug down in front of her and started moving the tea bag around.

"You know what I mean." Emily said with a slight smirk. "And don't try to weasel your way around this, I gave you a couple weeks, I _know _you've been talking. Spencer is really talkative lately, he goes out to lunch every Tuesday and Friday, when Morgan asked him if he could go he made up some excuse why he couldn't, he's texting and emailing.. a lot and-"

"Okay, Em. I get it." JJ said as she looked up at her and dropped the string to the tea bag and looked at Emily, she let out a sigh. "Right now, we're talking and hanging out. And_ yes_ we are going out to lunch Tuesday's and Friday's." JJ told her.

"And?" Emily asked with raised eyebrows.

"And?" JJ asked.

"Is there anything _besides _hanging out and talking going on?" Emily asked, JJ's eyes widened. "Not like that Jayje!" Emily retorted. "I _meant_, do you see anything happening in the near future?" she rephrased the question. JJ picked the tea bag up again and played with it before letting out a sigh.

"I don't know, maybe." she said as she looked at Emily. "There's always been something there... but it's just to soon, and I'm not even sure if Will and I are together anymore.." she sounded distressed.

"When was the last time you talked to him?" she asked, JJ looked up at her, she wasn't ready for that because they were just talking about Spencer.

"Friday... I think..." JJ said, Emily raised her eyebrows, that was more than 4 days ago.

"Do you miss him?" Emily asked, JJ put her hand on her forehead and let out a sighed like she was stressed. "Do you miss him?" Emily asked again, JJ sighed and dropped her hand and looked at the counter, shaking her head 'no', Emily grabbed the mug. "Think about that." she told her as she took a sip.


	21. Chapter 21: Answers

The Little Things – 21

**Authors Note: Thanks for the reviews :]**

**I noticed I get more reviews when the chapter is more than 2,000 words, the past 3 have been less than that and I'm sorry, but guess what? This is more than 2,000 words:]**

**I am SO sorry it took so long to update! I didn't even realize, weekends are hectic and I usually can't post :/ **

**I hope you like it!  
**

**PLEASE review!**

"We gotta go, we gotta go." Emily rushed Avery out of the house the next morning. "If I miss my flight I'm gonna be in huge trouble."

"Mom..." Avery said as she looked at Emily, with a bag in her hand and a back pack on. "It's 10. Your flight's at 1." she said, Emily straightened up.

"Well I said I'd drop you off around 10:30... and I like to get there early..." Emily told her. "Whatever, It doesn't matter. Let's go." Emily said as she put her bag over her shoulder and walked over to the door, arming her security system before opening the door. "You locked your window, right sweetie?"

"Yes, mom, come on!" Avery said as she walked into the hall, Emily rolled her eyes and followed her out the door, locking it before walking out to the car.

"So you have to go to the bathroom?"Emily asked as she looked in the rear-view mirror as she pulled onto Hotch's road, Avery was moving around in her seat, she looked at her and laughed.

"No! I'm excited!" she said as she sat back regularly and looked at Emily. "Is Jack nice?" she asked. "I'm sure he is," she continued before Emily could answer. "My dad seems really nice and I'm sure Jack is too, then..."

"You're right," Emily told her. "Jack is very nice." she said, Avery smiled as Emily pulled into the driveway, punching in the code for the gate he gave her the combination the other day so she wouldn't have to call him.

"Wow, this place is awesome." Avery said with a smile and a nod as Emily stopped the car. Avery un buckled her seat belt and jumped out of the car after opening the door.

"Grab your stuff." Emily reminded her before getting out, Avery grabbed her bag and put it on her back and grabbed her other bag.

"Can you take this one for me please?" Avery asked as she held it out, Emily raised her eyebrows, but grabbed it anyway and headed for the door with her close behind. Emily rang the door bell and looked over at Avery. "Wanna know what would look awesome there?" she asked as she pointed to an empty spot in the dirt that didn't have any bushes there, like it did next to it.

"What?" Emily asked with a small laugh.

"Pink and purple flowers." she said with a smile, Emily smiled.

"There's pink flowers over there." she said as she pointed over to the gate, where there were pink flowers, Avery smiled.

"Can I pick one?"

"Not now, but you can ask your dad later." Emily said as the door opened, she smiled at him. "Hey Hotch." she said with a smile, Hotch smiled back.

"Good morning you too." he said as he looked at Avery. "Come in," he said as he let the two in, Avery smiled and looked around at his house, which was much bigger and nicer then Emily's.

"That couch looks really comfy..." Avery said with a smile and a nod as she looked at Emily, then Hotch, Emily rolled her eyes and Hotch smiled.

"Do you wanna go sit on it?" he asked, Avery nodded.

"Thank you very much." she said as she walked over.

"The remote is on the coffee table." Hotch said as she disappeared into the living room. He looked back over to Emily, who smiled at him. "What time is your flight?"

"1, I have a few minutes before I need to leave though," she answered.

"And you have a ride and everything?" he asked, Emily nodded.

"Yeah, and thanks again for doing this.." she said.

"Don't thank me, it's my pleasure." he told her with a smile. Emily smiled and looked down at her feet. Jack walked into the kitchen without realizing Emily was there, he paused and looked at the two of them. Emily looked up at him.

"What's up Jack?" Hotch asked.

"I just wanted to say hi.." he improvised as he looked at Emily, he didn't want to be like 'I'm getting a drink. Bye!' or else Hotch would yell at him later about it.

"Hey Jack, It's nice to see you again..."

"You too." Jack smiled as he went for the fridge, Hotch glanced at Emily, then back to Jack.

"Hey, Jack, Emily actually wanted to talk to you about something," he offered, Emily widened her eyes at him, she wasn't ready to talk to him, but she understood that if Hotch hadn't mentioned it she probably would never get the chance to.

"About what?" Jack asked as he poured himself some orange juice. He knew what it _probably _was about. His state of mind wasn't as stubborn or angry as it was before. Emily was nice, and he actually liked her, even more then he liked his mom sometimes; even though he was young when he knew both of them. From what he remembered, she seemed more understanding then his mom did, about anything.

"Well, you see Jack.." Emily began as she glanced at Hotch, who nodded at her and walked away, to see how Avery was doing. "You obviously know about Avery now.. I wanted to tell you that I felt horrible after I left, I was thinking about you and how it would effect you mainly because of what happened to your mom. And I know you looked up to me and that was so wrong of me to do. But I did, and I'm sorry if I upset you in anyway, and I hope you can still think of me the same way you did before I left... even though you were young." Emily said, her thoughts were all jumbled and she got them out the best way she could. "Do you get what I'm saying?" she eventually asked as he turned around to face her.

"Yes, I do, Emily." he said with a nod, the tone of his voice made Emily seem hesitant. "And thanks... I have to admit, I was pissed when my dad told me you left and I just had.. misconceptions I guess, but I understand it more than I did before. I guess my ignorance just got in the way..." Jack said with a shrug as he took a sip of his orange juice, Emily nodded.

"Thanks Jack..." she said with a smile. "And I just wanna let you know, you can come to me for anything, especially when you're too scared to go to your dad about it." Emily said as she glanced over at Hotch, who was walking in, Jack smiled at her and Emily smiled at Hotch with a small laugh.

"I don't think I like the sound of that," Hotch said with a chuckle.

"Well, I'd better get going.." Emily said. "Call JJ if you need anything, you have her numbers right?" Hotch nodded. "She needs vitamins every morning, just remind her and she'll take them herself, she's also slightly allergic to peanuts.."

"Slightly?" Hotch asked.

"Yeah, if she has it just give her some Benadryl." she said with a shrug.

"So no peanut butter and Jelly?" Hotch asked with a smile, Emily chuckled.

"No." she laughed. "This is her bag also..." Emily said, Hotch grabbed it from her. "I'm just gonna say bye to her.." she said before walking over to the living room to see Avery and Jack talking. "I'm leaving Ave," she said, Avery looked up.

"Kay mom, I'll miss you." she said as she gave her a hug, Emily smiled and hugged her back.

"Call me if you need anything." she told her as she stood back up. "See you guys later."

"Have fun on your conference." he said as she walked back in. "Do you want some coffee to-go?"

"No, I'm fine." Emily said. "Thanks again.."

"You're welcome.." he gave in, he otherwise would have argued with her, telling her it's not something she should thank him for, mainly because he offered.

"See you in a few days, call me if you need anything." she said, Hotch nodded. "Bye." she said as she walked out of the house and out to her car. Hotch smiled to himself and walked over to the living room to see what Jack and Avery were doing.

"Cool! You're birthday is a week and 3 days after mine!" Avery exclaimed after asking Jack when _his _birthday was, which was April 13th. Jack smiled. "How old are you gonna be? I'm gonna be 11.." Jack chuckled.

"I'm gonna be 17," he answered, Avery nodded.

"You're old." she said with a small laugh.

"Do you know how old m- _our _dad is?" Jack corrected himself and asked her.

"How old?" Avery asked with a smile.

"45."

"Wow... now _that's _old."

"I'm right here you too." Hotch finally spoke up as he walked over to them, Avery looked at Jack and laughed. "45 isn't that old either."

"My mom says she's 30."

"Well, you're mom lied." Hotch said, Avery laughed.

"I know, she's turning 40." Avery said. "She's old, too."

"Everyone's old to you, In 6 years you'll be 17 and you wont think 17's so old." Jack told her, Avery nodded.

"You're still old." Avery told him, they all started laughing.

"So it's Sunday, do you guys have anything you wanna do in mind?" Hotch asked.

"What can we do?" Avery asked, Hotch shrugged.

"Whatever you want."

"Go to Disney World!" Avery exclaimed, joking of course.

"Something a little closer."

"But only by a minute right?" Avery asked with a smile.

"Only by a minute." Hotch said with a smile, Avery smiled and looked at Jack.

"What do you usually do on Sunday's?" Jack glanced over at Hotch.

"I usually study..." he answered, Avery scrunched her nose.

"Okay," she said as she looked at Hotch. "So what _can _we do?"

**x x x**

"When do you go back to school?" Hotch asked Avery as they were driving back from the zoo, Jack didn't mind going to the zoo, he was happy to see how excited Avery had been about it, the last time she went to the zoo she was 5 and that was with Emily, JJ and Henry. They just didn't get around to going to the zoo more.

"We have off tomorrow, but we have to go back Tuesday." Avery answered with a nod, Hotch nodded.

"I have work, but Jack will pick you up from school, all right?" he asked, Avery nodded.

"Thanks for taking me to the zoo.. I had a blast." Avery said with a smile, Hotch smiled.

"I'm glad you had fun." he said with a smile.

**x x x**

"Hold on for a second." Emily said as she dropped her phone in the bin and anything else she had that was metal or shouldn't go through the metal detector. She then grabbed her stuff again and put the phone to her ear.

"Are you seriously talking on the phone and going through security?" JJ asked. "Aren't you not even allowed to be on the phone? Doesn't it mess up with the machines or something?"

"That's a myth, ask Reid." Emily said as she walked to the waiting room for her gate. "Besides, I just left my badge out next to it and they didn't say anything."

"I wouldn't either if I were a security guard and an FBI agent was there." JJ said.

"Did you think about what I said?" Emily asked.

"About what?" JJ asked.

"About you and Spencer..." she said as she sat down, JJ sighed.

"Yes..."

"And?" Emily asked.

"And I'm starting to hate the answer..." JJ said, Emily nodded.

"So I was right?" Emily asked.

"Yeah..." JJ confessed with a sigh.


	22. Chapter 22: Kittens and Fractions

The Little Things – 22

**Authors Note: Sorry I didn't write about the zoo with the three of them, but I wasn't sure what to write and it would have been extremely boring.**

**Someone said longer parts are better, so I'll try my best to keep that in mind :]**

**I'm also sorry last part wasn't the best, I got an idea that's similar to the... Hotch and Emily getting stuck in a ditch, Avery getting trapped by an unsub, and Emily being held at gun point stuff.**

**I'm gonna do it now, but if you guys don't like all the drama stuff that's going on, let me know.. I just don't think it's that exciting without that drama stuff, ya know?**

**I JUST watched the Criminal Minds episode... FIRST I have to say MAJOR SPOILER RIGHT HERE SO IF YOU DIDN'T SEE IT SKIP THIS AUTHORS NOTE! I'm so happy she didn't die and they left it so there could eventually be the potential of her coming back.**

**I bawled my eyes out, I'm pretty sure a lot of other people did, too. **

**And I wanna know, if you saw the episode, what did you think? **

***If you didn't see the episode, don't read the reviews for this chapter because it will most likely give everything away :]**

**ANYWAYY.**

**This one is long so I hope you like it!**

**Please review!**

"You're out of work, right? It's 4:30 here now so I thought you were..." Emily said into the phone after getting settled in the hotel.

"Yeah, it's 7:30 here." JJ answered. "What's wrong? You seem anxious."

"That's because I am..." she confessed with a sigh. "Avery hasn't answered her phone... neither has Hotch..." Emily said, by now she was pacing back and forth.

"Nothing happened," JJ said with a small laugh. "I guarantee you. They're probably just having fun, bonding with each other." JJ said and heard Emily sigh. "Don't worry about them. Worry about your meeting and what Strauss is going to quiz you on when you get back."

"You don't understand JJ, I have horrible luck." Emily said as she sighed. Strauss wasn't really going to give her a _quiz_, just a check-in, asking how it was and what she learned, which could be interpreted as a quiz.

"Nothing is wrong. It's the first day they're hanging out _without _you. And the second day they're hanging out in general. They're having fun. Haven't you tried to have fun with Avery without prying that damn cellphone out of her hands?"

"Avery can only text me, and she hardly calls anyone..." Emily said.

"I really need to get rid of the 'unlimited texting' on Henry's phone..." JJ thought out loud.

"Yes you should. He's what? 12? He shouldn't even _have _texting. Or a phone."

"Avery's 10 and she has a phone."

"I travel a lot more then you."

"I'm in the FBI."

"So am I, let's just stop this argument now, okay?"

"It's not an argument..." JJ said.

"Really? Then what is it?" Emily asked.

"A... heated debate..." JJ started out slower, thinking of what to say, but then thought of it and said with a smirk, even though Emily couldn't see, she knew JJ was smirking.

"Okay, I am so hanging up now. Call me when you stop being a wise-ass." Emily said.

"Never!" JJ said like she was a kid, Emily laughed.

"Bye." she laughed before hanging up, JJ smiled and hung up. Emily then let out a sigh. "JJ's right... they're just having fun..." she said as she looked at her phone. "I worry _way _to much." she said before putting the phone on the bed and getting ready for the conference.

**x x x**

"It's 30 minutes past your bed time, Avery, do you think you can go get ready for bed?" Hotch asked as he put his jacket on the coat rack as they all walked into the house, they stopped to get pizza and have ice cream on the way. Avery nodded. "I'll make he guest bed while you get ready." he said, Avery nodded.

"Mm, kay..." Avery said sleepily as she walked to the guest bedroom to get her pajamas and tooth paste and then she went to the bathroom.

"Thank you," Hotch said before Jack walked to his room, Jack turned to look at him.

"For what?"

"For being good with her." he said. "And for listening to Emily this morning, It really means a lot to me, you have no idea.." Hotch explained, Jack nodded.

"I never _really _got to apologize for what I said about Emily, I didn't mean it.."

"I know." Hotch said as he nodded. "It also meant the world to Emily that you listened to her, I know you might not think so, but she loved you like she would love her own son..."

"I know she did..." he said with a nod.

"What did you think about Avery?"

"I love her already," he said with a chuckle. "She's great, she keeps me on my toes." Hotch shared a laugh with Jack and nodded.

"She certainly does." he said.

"I've got a Chemistry test tomorrow, so I'm gonna go study.." Jack said, Hotch nodded.

"See you tomorrow." he said, knowing Jack wouldn't come out for the rest of the night, Jack smiled before walking to his room and Hotch went in to make up the bed for Avery.

"Thank you for bringing me to the zoo..." Avery said as she walked in and put her clothes on the suit case, Hotch smiled and put the cover on the bed. "I had a lot of fun." she said with a nod.

"I'm glad you had fun," Hotch said as he moved out of the way so she could get in bed. "Which was your favorite animal there?"

"The penguins were awesome! So was that huge snake."

"Jack liked the snake, too. He wants a pet snake, but I really don't." Hotch said, Avery laughed.

"I want a pet kitten... my mom said I can't til I'm older and can take care of him myself..."

"And you have to be able to stay home alone before then?" Hotch asked, Avery nodded.

"Yup, she said when I'm 15 I can. That's only 5 more years... well, 4 years and 11 months." she said, Hotch chuckled.

"I'm in the room across the hall if you need me, for anything." he said as he headed for the door.

"Wait!" Avery said, Hotch turned to look at him. "Can I have a hug dad?" she asked, Hotch smiled.

"Of course you can." he said as he walked over and bent down to hug her, Avery smiled and hugged him tightly. "I'll wake you up the time your mom usually does, okay?"

"Mhm! Night dad." Avery said as she laid down, Hotch smiled and turned the light off. "You can shut it all the way," she told him once she noticed him hesitating to shut the door.

"Goodnight." he said before shutting the door, he smiled to himself before walking in his room and checking his phone, he saw the missed call from Emily. "How did I miss that?" he asked himself as he dialed her number.

"Hey.. sorry I didn't answer the first time you called, I just got back from the first conference..." Emily said after Hotch answered, it was now 11pm where Hotch was and 8pm where Emily was.

"It's fine," Hotch said. "I actually called because I saw you called.." he said.

"Oh..." Emily said, remembering she called earlier. "I was just calling to check in, I would have called again around Avery's bed time, but I was in conference... Was she good? Did she give you any trouble?" Emily asked him, not noticing the quick questions, she just wanted to know. Hotch chuckled.

"She went to sleep fine, she was exhausted... we went to the zoo and stopped on the way home to get pizza and ice cream." Hotch answered, Emily smiled.

"Wow, she must have had a blast.. and you got home later then her bed time?" she asked, Hotch sighed.

"How did you know?" Hotch asked.

"She usually gets really tired around 9 if she's not in bed by 8:30." Emily said.

"Oh, well I'm sorry we ran late, I didn't think it would be that big of a deal... I also lost track of time." Hotch said.

"Oh, no, don't worry about it, Hotch."

"We're not on the job Emily, you can call me Aaron.." he said with a small laugh.

"Right... sorry..." she said with a nervous laugh. "I'm just used to it..." she said. "And don't worry about it _now_, she might be a brat in the morning though."

"A brat? I can't picture it."

"Every girl is a brat for their mom and a goodie-good for their dad. Hence 'Daddy's little girl'. She also doesn't drink whole milk with her cereal in the morning, I forgot to mention that."

"We don't have whole milk." Hotch chuckled.

"Wow, it must be late there... Did I wake you up or anything? I'm sorry I called back so late..."

"No, I was up already. It's fine."

"Oh okay, good.. well I'm gonna let you go... Call me if you need anything.."

"Same to you, and you don't mind if Jack picks Avery up tomorrow from school, do you?"

"I trust you're judgment, Aaron. If you think it's okay then its fine with me. I'm sure Jack is a responsible driver."

"He is," Hotch said. "He knows that if anything happens to that 2010 Jetta that he asked for, I'll kill him." Emily laughed.

"That's a great thing to say." she said sarcastically with a laugh.

"Just think, Avery will be driving in 5 years." he said, Emily scoffed.

"I try not to." she said, Hotch chuckled and she smiled. "I'll talk to you later then."

"Alright... bye." he said before hanging up. Emily let out a sigh.

"See, they were fine... and now since Avery's not here you're going to start talking to yourself?" Emily asked, then realized,_ she was asking herself. _"I really need a drink..."

**x x x**

"This car is cool!" Avery said as she got in the back seat of Jack's car after school, Jack smiled at her and looked back at her as she put her back pack next to her.

"Put your seat belt on," he said, Avery did. "How was school?" he asked her as he pulled away and started driving.

"It was okay..." she said.

"Did something happen?" Jack asked, he could tell by the tone of her voice, she sounded like she was slightly down for some reason.

"I just got homework that I can't do..." she said with a shrug as she looked out the window with a smile on her face. Jack looked back at her through the rear view mirror.

"I'll help you," he said. "What time did you eat lunch?" he asked again.

"I have lunch at 10:30." she answered.

"Are you hungry?" he asked.

"Yeah, I usually have a snack at day care when I go there..."

"I know this really cool place that has some really good muffins that's right down the block from here." he told her, Avery looked up.

"Like a bakery?"

"More like a small cafe, do you like muffins?" he asked.

"Mhm!" Avery said with a smile. "Blueberry is my favorite." she said, Jack smiled and chuckled.

"Mine too." he said as he pulled into a spot.

"I don't get this one..." Avery said as they sat at a picnic bench in the park. Jack looked over at her worksheet, she was currently working on math.

"What are you working on?"

"Geometric sequences _with _fractions... I can't do it." she said as she dropped her pencil.

"Hey, see..." he said as he grabbed the pencil. "Fractions are tough, I didn't like fractions either when I was your age." he said as he flipped the paper over to the blank side and drew a circle, then he drew lines through it. "What's this?"

"A pizza pie!" Avery said as she straightened her back with a smile, Jack smiled and chuckled.

"Yup, and how many slices of pizza are in this pizza pie?" he asked.

"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8... Eight." she said after pointing to them. Jack nodded.

"Okay so there are Eight pieces." he said as he drew the number '8' with a line over it. "So, 8 would be the _denominator_, which is the bottom number because that's how many pieces there are, you understand that?" he asked, Avery nodded. "Okay, so let's say you're _really_ hungry one day and you eat _3_ pieces of pizza..." he said as he colored in 3 pieces with the pencil, a smile came across Avery's face. "And how many are left?" he asked, Avery counted.

"5." she answered, Jack nodded.

"Yeah," he said. "So if there's 5 left," he said as he wrote a '5' over the line. "So you ate 3 pieces so that means there's how many left?"

"5 out of 8." she said.

"Which is the same thing as saying 5 _over _8, do you understand that now?" he asked, Avery nodded. "Great," he said as he flipped the paper over. "So for the first one, sequence means the same thing as what comes next, so what fits after '2/99, 4/99 and 6/99'." he read, Avery looked at her and sighed. "No, no. Don't give up Ave, you got this. Think of an even number that fits there." he said, Avery thought.

"8?" she asked, unsure if it was correct or in correct.

"That's right! 8/99." Jack said with a smile, Avery looked at him.

"I'm right? Wow..." she said with a smile as she wrote it down. "And this ones 15/23, because it's going by fives... and this ones 4/66 because it's going by ones, that's an easy one.." Jack smiled at her as she continued to jot everything down.

**x x x**

"What time does dad usually come home?" Avery asked as she got out of the car, Jack paused before shutting the car door. He was still getting used to her calling _his _dad, _dad_.

"He usually gets home around 7 or 8, depending on how late he works." Jack said with a shrug as the motion light came on, guiding their way. It was already dark because it was 6.

"Wow, he works late." Avery said as she walked to the door and stopped. "Why is the door open?" she asked, Jack looked up and saw the open door.

"Avery, come over here." he said as he pulled his cell phone out, Avery stepped down the step and walked over to where he was as he dialed his dad's number, watching the door.

"Hey Jack, I'm kind of busy right now.."

"The front doors open and the alarm didn't go off." Jack said quickly as he put his hand on Avery's shoulder.

"What?" Hotch asked. "Is someone in the house?"

"I don't know, we're outside." Jack said into the phone.

"Go to the car and come straight here, okay?" Hotch asked him.

"Okay, what do I te-" he began to say, Hotch heard some shuffling and a high-pitched scream from Avery.

"Jack?" Hotch asked before hearing the phone hit the concrete and Avery screaming 'let him go! Let him go!', followed by 'let me go!' and then he could no longer hear any screaming, or anything for that matter. He hung the phone up forcefully and ran out the door of his office.


	23. Chapter 23: Out of Reach

The Little Things – 23

**Authors Note: I hoped you liked the last part and the cliff hanger :P**

**I got 13 reviews, thank you SO much for that!**

**Please review and I hope you enjoy.**

"Okay, what should I te-" Jack began to say as Avery felt something push her to the ground, Avery looked up and saw someone in black punch Jack directly in the face, she screamed on the top of her lungs. Then he start pulling him to a van.

"Let him go!" Avery cried as she stood to her feet. "LET HIM GO!" she screamed as she saw Jack being thrown into the van, Jack was unconscious from the punch, the guy in the black walked over to her, Avery looked at him. "I'm not scared of you." she told him, she knew that she should have ran, but she didn't want to leave Jack unconscious. The guy smiled at her and picked her up to bring her to the van. "LET ME GO!" she screamed as she hit him, Avery was thrown into the back of the van followed by the door shutting, Avery lunged for the door and tried to open it, but it was locked. Then she looked at Jack. "Jack..." she said as she walked over to him. "Jack, please wake up.."

**x x x**

Hotch drove to the house as fast as he could, disregarding the speed limit completely, but he was still safe enough not to hurt anyone around him, which he learned by driving after unsubs. He got there in 15 minutes, as opposed to the 20-25 minutes it usually takes. The first thing he did was look at Jack's car that was still in the driveway, unharmed. He then walked up the walk way and saw Jack's phone on the ground. His head was racing, how could this be happening? WHY is this happening?

He did the first thing h could think of - look in the house for any clues he could possibly find if the unsub has actually been in the house. He couldn't go after them- he had no idea where they could be. He walked into the house and flicked the light switch- the power was off. That's probably why the alarm didn't go off, but what about the gate? How did he get in? he thought before quickly walking away and over to the gate, he looked at the key pad, it was slightly pulled outward. Like someone pulled it off and tampered with it. He was about to move it, but realized he couldn't He needed to call a CSA team; Crime Scene Analyst team. If he touched anything it could ruin almost anything.

After he called the CSA team, there was nothing he could do there, so he went back to the BAU, going straight to Dave's office.

"Come in," Dave said as Hotch knocked on the door, he then opened the door, letting it shut behind him. "Are you okay?" Dave asked once he noticed Hotch was out of breath, Hotch shook his head.

"They took them," was all he said, he was still trying to catch his breath.

"What?" Dave asked as he stood up. "Who took who?" he asked as he walked over to him.

"I don't know, they took my son and daughter." Hotch said.

"Daughter?" Dave asked, then he realized; Emily and him have been talking a lot recently, alone. She left without warning 10 years ago, without any explanation. It was a shock to even Hotch, which meant he had no idea. "When did this happen?" Dave asked, he knew that it wasn't the time to dwell on the past or continue the 'daughter' conversation, it was something to save for later.

"45 minutes ago? I drove to the house and I had to call CSA because the unsub cut the power and tampered with the gate key pad; he could as well have been in the house."

"You did a good thing there, Aaron. What did you figure out?"

"Nothing from the crime scene.." Hotch said, Dave nodded.

"What is your stance in this?" Dave asked.

"I talked to a buddy of mine who showed up with CSA and he told me he wouldn't mind our help, considering..." his voice trailed off.

"Are you sure you want to do this? You know the way you're involved can be very detrimental if things go wrong..." Dave said, he needed to be honest.

"Did you know 74% of children who are ultimately murdered are killed within the first 3 hours?" Hotch asked him, Dave looked at him. "Yes. I am sure." he said. "Could you get Garcia to look up any recent kidnappings where they cut the power first and maybe tampered with any security devices in the area... And get the team to the conference room in 10 minutes? I have to make a phone call..." Hotch said, Dave nodded.

"Of course..." he said as he walked towards the door. "Aaron?" Hotch looked at him. "We will find them." Dave said, Hotch nodded as Dave walked away, Hotch let out a sigh.

"The odds of that are slim, Dave.." he said to himself before walking to his office. "We need your help with something..." Hotch said into the phone about 5 minutes later.

"Of course... with what?"

"I've tried to get in touch with Emily... her phone keeps going to voice mail..." Hotch told her.

"This is bad, isn't it?" JJ asked him, even though she was at work, he called her boss to get in touch with her, which she knew it was pretty bad to begin with.

"Someone abducted Jack and Avery..." Hotch said with his head in his hand.

"Oh god..." JJ said as she put her hand over her mouth, her eyes started to burn with the thought of it. "I-I can come right now. I... I can be there in 10 minutes..."

"Thank you, usually I would have called a child abductor specialist, but you know Avery well..."

"I know." JJ said. "I'll be there in 10 minutes." she told him before hanging up the phone, Hotch let out a sigh and tried Emily again, glancing over at the time. It was 7 here, so it was 4 there. Emily was probably in and out of conferences and meetings and lectures the entire day. He let out a sigh and put the phone down and rubbed his head with his index finger. He then got up about 10 minutes later and walked out of the bull pen and to Penelope's office.

"Garcia." he said as he opened the door and walked in quickly.

"Oh my god!" Penelope said as she jumped and put her hand over her chest. "I'm sorry, sir. You scared me." she said as she turned back towards her computer. "I finished looking up what Rossi asked me to and... nothing.." she said. "Well, I mean there have been abductions, but not in the area, or at the childs home, so, overall. Nothing matches up." Garcia said, Hotch nodded.

"We are convening in the conference room,now, I would like you to join us." Hotch told her, Penelope nodded as he walked out and over to the conference room, where Derek and Spencer were both sitting, Dave walked over to him. Hotch let out a sigh. He never imagined having to explain to them his son and daughter have been abducted and they were the victims. Penelope took a seat next to Derek.

"We need an extra space set up..." Hotch told him, Dave nodded and moved a chair to the table, then took his seat. "An abduction took place about an hour ago.." Hotch told them.

"Who's the victim?" Derek asked.

"There were two," Hotch said as he let out a sigh and took a deep breath as he put the two pictures up on the white board. "Jack Hotchner and Avery Prentiss..." he said, right as JJ walked in and looked at the two pictures on the board, they all were shocked, aside from Dave who was more focused on Hotch's reaction to the whole situation, then they looked at JJ when Hotch looked at her. "I've asked JJ to help us with this," he said.

"Let me get this straight, Prentiss had a daughter and that's why she left for 10 years?" Derek asked while looking at JJ.

"I know you have a lot of you must have questions, but we need to focus on this case right now." JJ spoke up, she could tell by Hotch's expression that she needed to take the lead because he was more emotional about it - not that she wasn't, because she definitely was. "So the two victims are Avery Prentiss and Jack Hotchner," JJ said as she wrote down both of their information on an index card before pinning it on the white board. "We'll start by figuring out _why._.."

**x x x**

"Who are you?" Jack said loudly as he looked over at the guy, who just sat down at the couch a few minutes ago. "Who are you?" Jack said again, even louder and more assertive then the last time because he was still staring at something ahead of him, he finally looked at Jack, then back to where he was looking before. Jack rolled his eyes and looked over at Avery, who was sleeping. "Could you at least give her a blanket? The ground is cold." Jack said, the guy looked at him, then Avery, then he got up and walked over to her with a blanket, dropping it over her. "Is that really necessary?" Jack asked as he looked at Avery's tied hands. "I get that _I _should have them, but she wont fight back.."

"You'd be surprised." his voice was deep, Jack knew that wasn't his real voice; he could tell he was making it sound deeper. Jack looked at her. "She fought me pretty badly. That's why I shot 'er up." Jack's eyes widened, and he tried to pull his hands apart.

"What did you give her?" he screamed.

"Don't worry. She'll be up soon."

"What did you give her?" Jack repeated even louder.

"She'll come to it in the next... mhm.. 10 to 14 hours."

"You can't give a 10 year old drugs!" Jack yelled.

"She bit me." the guy retorted.

"That's the DUMBEST thing I've EVER heard!"

"I was safe." he said with a smirk.

**x x x**

"Hotch..." JJ said as she knocked on his door, he was staring out the window, he only spaced out for about 5 minutes; but he was just about drowning in his thoughts. After they briefed everyone about the information, Hotch went to his office. There was absolutely _nothing _he could do and he hated it.

"Yeah JJ?" he mumbled as he looked over to her.

"There was a letter that was addressed to you..." she said as she gave it to him, Hotch nodded and looked at the manila folder she handed him. "I'm gonna go try Emily again.." she said, he nodded as she walked away. JJ impatiently paced back and forth as she called Emily, it kept going to voice mail the three times she called. JJ let out a sigh.

"JJ..." She heard Spencer say, JJ jumped a little and looked at him.

"Spence.. hey.."

"Trying to reach Emily?" he asked her, JJ nodded and let out a sigh.

"Yeah.." JJ said. "What are the odds of this whole thing happening?" JJ wondered allowed with a sigh, after a bit of silence, she looked at Spencer. "What? No statistic?"

"There actually isn't one. This has probably never happened before, ever..." Spencer said, JJ nodded. "And even if there was a statistic for this... it wouldn't help the situation..." he said, JJ nodded.

"Yeah..." she said as her cell phone started to ring. "It's Emily." she said as she perked up and pressed the 'talk' button and put the phone to her ear. "Emily.." she said quickly.

"Hey JJ, sorry I didn't answer before.. I got your voice mail." Emily said, JJ left a voice mail about an hour ago saying just to call her back when she gets a chance and that it's urgent. "I've been in and out of lectures and conferences the whole time," Emily said with a sigh, sounding out of breath. "You said it was urgent?"

"Yeah... it is." JJ said, she wasn't sure what she was going to say exactly. "Jack and Avery were abducted." she said as she glanced up at Spencer, who put his head down and slowly walked out of the room. Emily gulped.

"Please tell me this is some sort of sick joke..." Emily said, even though she knew JJ wouldn't joke like that, JJ didn't say anything, her eyes were starting to water, along with Emily's. "Oh god.." Emily said as she sniffed in. "I'll be right there. I'm getting the first flight out." Emily said.

"Okay.. I'll tell Hotch..." JJ said.

"When?" Emily asked.

"Around 6:30.." JJ said, Emily sighed.

"Was there any evidence of a struggle?" Emily asked, she just wanted to make sure nothing happened to them.

"Hotch was on the phone with Jack... he heard Avery telling someone to let Jack go," JJ's eyes started to burn, this was the last thing she wanted to tell her. "And then she yelled 'let me go'..." JJ said. "There was nothing at Hotch's house to indicate any struggle or that anyone was hurt." she told her.

"I'm leaving the hotel now. I'll be there as soon as I can." Emily said before hanging up the phone, JJ hung up the phone and wiped a tear that escaped from her eye, then she wiped her eyes to get rid of the tears.

"JJ, where did you get the letter?" Hotch asked as he walked over.

"A mail carrier gave it to me.." JJ said. "Why?" she asked as she looked at it and read it.

**'YOU HUNTED HIM LIKE HE HUNTED YOU.**

**I FOUND THEM LIKE YOU FOUND HIM.**

**I'LL TALK TO YOU SOON, AGENT HOTCHNER'**


	24. Chapter 24: What if?

The Little Things – 24

**Authors Note: I got 11 reviews in LESS than 12 hours... That's just amazing...**

**And, 'energis121' is making me a trailer for this story! It should be done soon hopefully and i'll put the link in the authors note. It's going to be awesome, I already saw a draft of it and I am AMAZED!**

**Anyway, I've seen a lot of guesses as to who it could be(the kidnapper) and I'm shocked at how good your guesses were and how much out side of the box you're thinking!**

**You'll know soon! I hope you like it! **

**Sorry it took so long to update, I'm coming down with somethin that involves me wanted to take a BUNCH of naps and not being able to sleep during the night, which is probably the only reason why updating right now :]**

**Please review!**

"He was right there... Hotch, I'm sorry I didn't realize..."

"Did you get what he looked like?" Hotch asked, he was determined to get him now.

"Yeah... I think I can remember..." JJ told him.

"Enough to get a sketch?"

"Yeah..." JJ said with a nod.

**x x x**

"Hello!" Jack said for the 10th time, just to get the bastard to look at him. "You gave her drugs, she's gonna get dehydrated, the least you could do is let me give her some water."

"So what you're telling me is she'll die?" he asked with a raised eyebrows. "Well, she's going to die either way. So why should I help her?"

"You bastard!" Jack yelled at him as he tried to pull his arms apart and get out of the rope. "You want me, not her, she didn't do anything."

"And you think you did?" he said as he stood up. "No, it was your asshole father!"

"What did he do?" Jack asked.

"Like you don't know." he said as he noticed the time. "I have to go." he said as he stood up.

"Where are you going?" Jack screamed as he walked out of the room. "Come back here you coward!" he screamed, then he heard a door slam. He let out a sigh and looked over at Avery, who was still asleep. He tried to move over to her to make sure she was okay, it took him about 5 minutes to fully get over there with his hands tied behind his back. "Avery..." he whispered, he let out a sigh of relief when he saw her take a deep breath in the mist of her sleep. "Thank god.." he said as he rested his head on the wall and looked up.

**x x x**

"I'm waiting in the airport... the weather delayed the flights for over 2 hours.." Emily told JJ over the phone, there was a lot of rain there and high winds. "Why is this happening?" she asked with a sigh.

"Em, it's fine. We got this. Hotch sent the letter to forensics and they made a sketch of him..." JJ said, there wasn't much she _could _say besides that and if there was, she didn't know. "Spence said that the abductor will most likely contact us because he said 'talk to you soon' and once that happens, Garcia will track it, Hotch with negotiate, everything will be okay.." JJ told her, Emily let out a sigh.

"I'm gonna let you get back to work.." Emily told her.

"Hang in there Em... everything's going to be okay."

"Wouldn't you be acting the same way if you were in my position and Henry was abducted?" Emily asked, JJ sighed.

"I would trust the team that has dealt with the worst of things. This team has solved 99 of the hundred cases it's had, even when they have nothing and this case is no different." JJ told her, Emily sighed.

"JJ..."

"Yeah Em?"

"Promise me you'll bring them back safe..." Emily said, even though she knew JJ shouldn't be making that promise, especially because of the odds of saving them.

"Emily." JJ said, Emily closed her eyes, knowing what she would say. "I promise we will bring them back safe." JJ reassured her, Emily opened her eyes while a tear escaped from her eye.

"I'll be there as soon at I can.."

"I know." JJ said before hanging up the phone and letting out a sigh.

"JJ, he's calling." Derek told her as he walked over to her, JJ looked up and followed him out of the room.

"Are you set up Garcia?" Hotch asked.

"Yes, I am." Penelope said quickly. "I'm patching him through." she said as she typed quickly and then patched the unknown called through to the phone.

"Aaron Hotchner speaking." Hotch said into the phone as JJ and Derek walked into the room.

"Hello Agent Hotchner." something about the way the unsub disguised his voice and said that sounded so familiar to Hotch, JJ, and everyone around them.

"I've been waiting for your call. How are you?" Hotch asked, he didn't want to ask that, he wanted to yell at him and call him all sorts of things, but he kept it professional.

"I'm fine," his voice was almost taunting. Just like he was taught. "How are you?"

"Well, to be honest, I'm a little upset..." Hotch said, the unsub smirked as Hotch continued. "You know my name and I don't know yours."

"Funny how things work like that, isn't it Agent Hotchner?" he asked.

"Could you tell me your name? It might make things a little easier."

"Evan."

"Well, Evan, we should start by talking about that letter you gave me, that was you, wasn't it?" Hotch asked.

"Indeed it was." there he was, taunting again. It made Hotch's blood boil as much as it did JJ's, and every other person in the room.

"Would you like to tell me what it was about?" Hotch asked.

"Nah, thanks anyway Agent Hotchner. Catch ya later though." he said before the line went dead, Hotch opened his mouth to try to stop him, but sighed.

"Garcia?" Dave asked.

"It looks like a disposable cell phone," Penelope said as she proceeded to tell them the exact address of where he was standing.

"Thanks Garcia, I'll go there with Dave to see if there are any places that cell disposable cell phones..." he said as he stood up, he completely scatter-brained. Nothing at this moment seemed real or like it make any sense.

"You should stay here in case he calls back..." Spencer spoke up, Hotch shut his eyes for a moment.

"Morgan and Reid go." he said, Derek and Spencer both nodded before leaving. "JJ I need you to get that sketch out to the media and police officers, if police officers see anyone that looks like him, tell them to take them into custody immediately." Hotch told JJ, who nodded and walked out. Hotch looked over at Dave and stared at him for a moment before looking back down, Dave understood what he was thinking.

**x x x**

"You didn't need to give her anything.." Jack mentioned after Evan untied his hands and let him sit down to eat some food, Evan shook his head.

"Eat or you'll starve." he said as he pointed the gun at him, Jack looked at him.

"She needs water or she'll get dehydrated." Jack said, Evan rolled his eyes, got up, walked over to the kitchen and put a water bottle on the table.

"That's all you get. Use it wisely." he told him as he sat down on the couch where he could keep an eye on both Jack and Avery, Jack got up and sat by Avery, sitting her up and he gave her some water. She wasn't completely aware of anything, she was more in a daze that would be forgotten 24 hours from now, Jack laid her back down. He hated seeing her like that but knew there was nothing he could do. He then walked back over to where he was sitting before.

"What's your name?" Jack asked after a few minutes of silence, Evan looked up.

"Shut up and eat before I decide to take it away." Evan said as he pointed his gun at Jack, he put his head down.

"I was just asking a simple question."

"One question leads to many questions." Evan said, Jack nodded.

"You're right. But don't you think you owe me an explanation?" Jack asked, Evan then shook his head. "If we're going to..." Jack glanced over at Avery to make sure she was still asleep. "Die here, don't you think I deserve to know why?" Jack asked him, Evan gave Jack a look.

"Oh, like you don't know." Evan said to him, Jack looked at him.

"Actually, I don't." Jack said, calmly. Evan stood up.

"How could you not know? 10 years ago to long to remember? Or maybe you were just a child, still ignorant to the world. You know I was about you're age when I lost him." Evan said loudly.

"Lost who?" Jack retorted.

"My father!" Evan screamed. "Let's see how _he _reacts when he looses his only son and his precious little daughter." Evan said as he walked over to Avery.

**x x x**

"Did you guys find anything?" Hotch asked into the phone.

"Just the disposable cell phone, all he used it for was to call you." Derek told him.

"Alright..." Hotch thought. "Are there any places where he could have gotten it?"

"Hotch, were in the city. There are places left and right." Derek told him, Hotch sighed.

"Start going to the places where he _could _have bought them, Morgan. He would have gotten it right before he called." Hotch said.

"I'll call Garcia if I get a name," Derek said before hanging up, Hotch shut the phone and turned around to see JJ standing in the door way.

"It's Emily..." JJ said as she extended her arm out to him. "She wants to talk to you..." JJ said, Hotch nodded and grabbed the phone from her and watched JJ walk out, shutting the door behind her, Hotch let out a sigh as he put the phone to his ear. 

"Emily..." Hotch said, _what else could I say? _He thought, this was _his _fault and he knew it.

"Hey... I just got on the plane, it's taking off in 10 minutes." Emily told him.

"I wish you didn't have to be coming back..." Hotch told her.

"No," Emily said. "Don't say that." she said. "Don't say it like it's your fault because it's clearly not." Emily told him, even though she wasn't there and she _wanted _someone to blame for this, she knew she couldn't blame Hotch.

"If I hadn't pushed you into going on that conference-" Hotch was stubborn, he didn't _want _to hear Emily tell him it wasn't his fault. He didn't _need _her to tell him that, he wanted and needed everything to be back to normal and as every second passed, normal seemed harder and harder to reach.

"Whose to say this _wouldn't _have happened either way, Aaron?" Emily asked him, Hotch felt a little less empty when he heard her speak his _name, _not Hotch. "JJ told me not to dwell on 'what if's because it doesn't help the current situation we're in. What if isn't current, we need to do something _now, _not think about the past." Emily told him, Hotch let out a sigh. "I... I have to go, the planes taking off." Emily said, a lot sooner then she thought, but she just wanted to get back as fast as she could.

"JJ arranged the private transportation for you, right?"

"Yes," Emily answered.

"So you should be here within 4 hours. I'll keep you posted through out." Hotch said, quickly getting back to 'work-mode'.

"Thanks." Emily said before hanging up, Hotch let out a sigh as he hung up and put his hand on his forehead. He jumped when JJ came in the room.

"Sorry Hotch... Morgan and Reid actually just found someone who purchased a disposable cellphone via credit card, Penelope's running it through as we speak." JJ said, Hotch nodded. _That was fast._

"Here," Hotch said as he handed the phone back to her.

"How did it go?" JJ asked.

"Fine." Hotch answered before slipping past her and walking to Penelope's office, JJ followed him in, understanding that his mind was now completely focused on everything else. Hotch opened the door. "How are you doing Garcia?" he asked as he walked in.

"Evan Phillips is what the credit card information is listen under.." Penelope said as she read. "There is nothing else that's listed under the name 'Phillips'," she said as she continued typing at her fast-pace. "Come to think of it, it's like Evan Phillips never even existed before now, well 8 years ago when he applied for the credit card, but that's it. The trail runs dry."

"Do you have a DOB?"

"November 30th, 1985." Penelope answered.

"He's 26," Hotch said. "Who's his birth mother?" he asked.

"Charlet Phillips.." Penelope mumbled as she continued typing. "Who was murdered in 1994 via gun shot to the head and multiple bruises all over her body along with multiple stabs to just about everywhere on her body... it says here that she had one son named Evan Foyet..." Penelope's voice trailed off as she looked up at Hotch quickly.

"Did it say if there was anything left at the crime scene?" Hotch asked quickly.

"It says there was a wedding ring found...oh god..." Penelope trailed off.

"Inside her heart." Hotch said as he read.

"He cut her open and put the ring inside her _heart_?" Penelope repeated, totally disgusted with the whole idea.

"We found the stresser we never found out before."

"Doesn't this not match his profile _at all_?" JJ asked Hotch, who looked at her. "I mean, he has a kid and then he decides to put him in this _huge _life or death situation? I'm no expert on him, but doesn't that kind of seem like a contradiction? If he had a kid, he would literally _be _his world. He wouldn't let some grudge kill his only son in the end." she said.

"Evan has blue eyes and blonde hair, Foyet had brown eyes and brown hair, the mother didn't have blonde hair. It's probably not even his. He just raised him like it was, Foyet has unfinished business. He had a plan, he knew I would kill him, he _wanted _me to kill him and now he's finishing up what he started through his son." Hotch said. "Get that photo out to the media and officers as soon as you can JJ, if Evan's anything like his father, we don't have much time."


	25. Chapter 25: Close Calls

The Little Things – 25

**Authors Note: I hope you guys like it!**

**Thanks for all the reviews and if you haven't seen it, I wrote a one-shot because of all the reviews I've been getting and it's called 'Jams', I got a prompt from a reader and went with it. Just go to my stories homepage and check it out, it's the only one-shot under the 'Aaron Hotchner's Not-So-Serious side' one shot series, it's Emily and Hotch and there is a lot of making out in it if you're missing it in this story.**

**Anyway, please review and I hope you like it.**

"Don't go near her!" Jack said as he stood up, Evan pointed the gun directly at him. "If you put a hand on her, I swear to god I will fucking _kill _you!" Jack screamed, even though he only knew Avery for 2 days and new about her for a week, she was still his sister and he loved her regardless of how long he knew about her.

"That's a bold thing to say, especially when it's coming from a profilers son." Evan said with a smirk as he dropped the gun and pointed it at Avery.

"I will kill you, just like my father killed your asshole dad! Wanna know why? Because your father deserved it! Do you even _remember _what your father looked like? You look _nothing _like him. He's not even your father!" Jack screamed at him, his blood was boiling as Evan snapped and pointed the gun at him.

"You don't know anything! You don't know a thing! He _is _my father!" Evan screamed. "I'm going to kill her," he said as he walked over to Avery once again after realizing what Jack was trying to do, what George warned him about. He then pulled the safety off the gun and pointed it at Avery.

"Don't you dare!" Jack screamed, Evan glanced over into space. Then he remembered, he put pressure on the trigger and the safety at the same time before putting the safety back on. Jack looked at Evan as he walked over to him and put the gun to Jack's head with one hand and tied Jack's hands up before walking out of the room. Jack listened to hear the door close before trying to pull his hand out of the rope that held his hands behind his back.

**x x x**

"It's been 3 hours..." Hotch said to Dave when Dave walked in the room and looked at him.

"You can't give up."

"I'm not." Hotch said as he turned towards him. "I'm just thinking about what he's doing to them.. what they're doing... how they're handling it..."

"Don't think about that Hotch, you know as much as I do that it doesn't help the current situation." Dave said, Hotch sighed as JJ walked over.

"The press conference _just _aired on all the local radio stations and news channels... if anyone knows anything they'll call the tip line." JJ said, Hotch nodded and looked back over to Dave, who was walking out of the room. "Emily should be here soon..." JJ told him, Hotch sighed.

"An hour. I know..." Hotch said.

"I know what you're going through, Hotch... I love Avery just as much as you do and I've known Jack since he was born." JJ began to tell him, Hotch opened his mouth. "And right now there's nothing to do, but wait until someone calls the tip line or he calls. So don't tell me we don't have time to talk." Ever since Hotch wasn't her boss, she's gotten more assertive with him, when Emily was gone and Hotch was working, Hotch called in a few favors regarding watching Jack a few times, which made them still close.

"Are you sure you didn't take the classes to become a profiler when you had more time after being transferred?" Hotch asked, clearly to change the subject.

"Yes, I am sure." JJ told him, the tone of her voice was not as amused as his, which made him sigh.

"I appreciate all of you're help JJ." He said. "And I-" he began to say, but Garcia came over the speaker phone as Hotch and JJ looked at the phone.

"He's calling again." she said quickly. Hotch glanced at JJ.

"Put him through," Hotch said, JJ gulped as she looked at the phone. "I need you to talk," he told her, JJ looked at him with her eyes widened.

"What? I can't-" she began to say, confused as to why he would say that, but then stopped when he looked at her, she nodded. She thought maybe it was because he felt he couldn't, but after that look she understood he was doing it for a reason. The line beeped and JJ took a breath. "Jennifer Jareau speaking, may I ask whose calling?" JJ asked as if she were answered a work call, there was a small pause.

"Is Aaron Hotchner there?" his voice sounded possessive and dark, like it did before. JJ glanced up at Hotch, who who shook his head and started to write something on the board.

"No, I'm sorry," JJ said as she glanced up to the white board and read what it says. "He's getting something to eat. Would you like me to leave him a message?" JJ asked, Hotch nodded.

"No, no, no!" Evan screamed. "_Why _isn't he out looking for his children? _Why _is he out getting food when I have his kids!" Evan screamed, JJ didn't need to ask Hotch what to say, she got a pretty good feel on what should be a response to that.

"I'm sorry... I'm not quite sure what you're talking about. Would you like me to leave him a message? I'll be glad to give it to him when he gets back." JJ said.

"Tell him they don't have much longer." Evan said, he sounded angry and filled with rage as the line went dead.

"Garcia?"

"It was another disposable cellphone, this time it was located..." Penelope proceeded to tell them the address again.

"Thanks Garcia, call Morgan and Reid and tell them to go there." Hotch said.

"You are quite welcome." Penelope said before clicking off, JJ looked at him with her hand over her mouth.

"Hotch..." she said, tears in her eyes.

"I did that for a reason," Hotch said, JJ looked at him. "He's stressed, angry, he'll be to agitated to complete his task thoughtfully and the way George wanted him to. I was wrong, he's nothing like his father."

**x x x**

Jack groaned loudly with a sigh, his wrists were burning from the friction of the rough rope rubbing against his hand, he looked over at Avery. "Avery.." he whispered, then he let out a sigh when she didn't say anything, he leaned his head back on the wall and closed his eyes as a tear escaped from his eye. He then heard a noise like she was moving, he opened his eyes and looked at her, the moonlight helped him see in the pitch black room, Avery mumbled. "Avery..." he said again as he stuck his legs out and moved so he was sliding along the carpet, she mumbled once again. "Avery." he said with a small laugh of relief as he squeezed his hands out of the rope with a groan as the rope cut his hands. He then heard the door slam open as Even walked into the room. He grabbed Jack's hair and threw him away from Avery, throwing him onto a wooden chair. Jack fought back, only to get punched in the face, everything went black.

**x x x**

"I just got a call in from the tip line." JJ said as she walked into the conference room where Dave and Hotch were, they both looked up from her as she looked down at the paper. "A man just called about who he rents a run-down studio apartment to that matches the picture." JJ said.

"Did he say the name?" Hotch asked, JJ shook her head.

"Apparently he pays in cash, double of what the asking price is. No questions are asked." JJ said, Hotch nodded.

"The address?" he asked.

"Got it right here." JJ told him, Hotch nodded as he looked at Dave.

"Call Morgan and Reid and tell them to meet us there." he said, Dave nodded as he grabbed his phone, Hotch then looked at JJ. "Let's go." he said, JJ nodded and followed him out.

**x x x**

Jack was only out for a few minutes, when he opened his eyes his hands were tied to the back of the chair, Evan was looking out side, holding the shade open with his gun. Jack looked at Avery, who was the same way she was before, he let out a sigh of relief. Evan looked at him.

"Great. You're up." he said as he walked over. "You were only out for a couple minutes," he told him as he smirked and looked over at Avery. "I wanted you to see this." he said as he raised the gun and pointed it at Avery, taking the safety off the gun.

"NO!" Jack screamed as he heard the click of the trigger being pulled, his eyes shut. But that was it, just a click, Jack opened his eyes, Evan looked as confused as he did as he took the gun away from Avery as he looked at it, opening the bullet case of the revolver. _A dud. _Jack thought. He leaned forward and wiped his whole body around, spinning the chair with him, hitting Evan. He groaned as the chair fell back, surprisingly back on it's four legs. He's always wanted to do something heroic like that, like in movies. He just didn't think it would work out so smoothly. He didn't get the chance to do anything else as he heard the door slam open again.

"FBI!" he heard Derek's familiar voice.

"IN HERE!" Jack screamed as he pulled his hands free from the rope that was tied onto the chair, the whole move he did loosened the rope. He saw JJ come in first with her gun up, he walked over to him. "I'm fine, go to her!" he said quickly, JJ looked over at Avery and walked over to her as Derek and Hotch came in behind her. Derek went straight for Evan and Hotch went over to Jack. "He gave her drugs or something," Jack said as he stood up, Hotch looked down at the ring of blood around both of Jack's wrists. "It's not as bad as it looks..." he said.

"We need an ambulance to..." Hotch said into the radio, before walking over to JJ and Avery with Jack behind him. "I'll take her." he said as JJ finished un tying her arms and picking her up, JJ handed her to him and he looked down at her as they heard the sound of the ambulance's sirens. JJ put her hand on Jack's shoulder as she guided him out, there wasn't anything anyone could say...

**x x x**

"Where are they?" was the first thing Emily asked as she rushed into the hospital, JJ dropped her hand from her mouth and looked at her, she was biting her thumb nail nervously.

"They're both in there, Hotch went to fill out some papers for the two of them." JJ said, Emily nodded.

"Can I go in?"

"Yeah, I was just waiting for you..." JJ answered, Emily nodded as she walked in the room with JJ following her, Emily looked at Jack, who was sitting on the couch in the room with bandages wrapped around his wrists and Avery was laying in the other hospital bed.

"Are you the mother?" The doctor asked, Emily nodded. "I'm Dr. Remi," she told her. "Avery is currently stable, she was given Rohypnol by an injection – don't worry – we made sure she got no diseases from the needle that was used. Everything seems to be fine, we've attached an IV to her with saline in it. The drug was administered to her about 5 hours ago, usually the effects can last up to 12 hours with a dose of 1.5 to 3 grams, she was given about a .7 grams, and to a young adult that might just make them feel as if they are intoxicated, but to Avery who is 65 pounds it could give her the same effects it would if a young adult was getting 2 grams."

"So what does that mean?" Emily asked, Dr. Remi sighed.

"She can wake up any time from now to 12 hours. We can't be sure." she said, Emily nodded as Dr. Remi started walking out. Emily felt her eyes start to burn as she reached out to grab Avery's hand, she lightly kissed it as she looked at Avery, she was so glad she was okay. JJ looked behind her and saw Hotch standing in the doorway, JJ gave him a half smile as she walked over to Jack while Hotch walked in, she put her hand on his shoulder, he looked up and walked out with JJ, getting the gist that they needed to talk.

"Emily.." she heard him say, Emily looked over at him while dropping Avery's hand.

"Thank you.." she said as she got up and hugged him, it might have been a little inappropriate, but neither of them cared right now, Hotch held her close to him, he couldn't remember the last time he held her that closely. "JJ told me it was Foyet's son over the phone.." she said as she pulled away.

"Let's not talk about that right now.." he said, Emily nodded.

"Right, sorry." she said as she looked over at Avery.

"Don't apologize, if anything I-"

"No you shouldn't, and you said we'd talk about it later, remember?" Emily said with a raised eyebrow, Hotch nodded.

"Jack gave her water... the doctor said she probably wouldn't have made it if he didn't." he said, Emily smiled.

"Jack.." she said as she shook her head. "It must have been so scary for them..." she said as she grabbed Avery's hand.

"I can't even imagine..." Hotch said as he looked at Avery. "JJ did a great job with helping us out." Hotch said, Emily smiled and nodded.

"Did you talk to Strauss yet? Tell her you couldn't have done it without her?" she asked, Hotch chuckled.

"We certainly wouldn't have been able to." he said. "Well, it would have taken a heck of a lot longer." Hotch said as he looked at her, Emily smiled at him.

"Mommy..." they heard Avery mumble, Emily and Hotch both looked at her as her eyes opened slowly. "Mommy..."

"Shh, shh. It's okay.." Emily said as she grabbed onto her hand with her left hand and moved her hair behind behind her ear. "Mommy's here." she whispered, Avery opened her eyes fully.

"Don't hurt me!" she practically screamed when she fully came to it and she pushed Emily's hand away.

"Avery, Avery, calm down, it's me, everything's okay." Emily said as Avery grabbed onto her tightly and cried into her chest, Emily gulped and looked over at Hotch.


	26. Chapter 26: More Explanations

The Little Things – 26

**Authors Note: I'm glad you guys liked the last few parts. Can you believe I'm already on chapter 26? That's a huge shock to me... first because I suck at writing long stories, but this is a first and I'm really enjoying it. I hope you guys are, too.**

**I've been getting 9 reviews on the last two parts, which don't get me wrong, It's amazing and I thank all of you for that, but the parts before that I has about 13. I just like the feedback, so if you get the time, just leave a review. I don't care how long the review is and if you only say 'I think it was great', I'm completely fine with that! Like I said, feedback is good. It keeps me motivated.**

**I've been focusing on a lot of Jack and Avery lately, so I thought I'd start with focusing a little more on the relationship between Emily and Hotch and how that's going to go.**

**I hope you like the route I start taking it in. **

**And there was an anonymous reviewer that reviewed every part with the name 'JJ1', so i'd just like to thank that person for that! **

**AND **

**Please don't forget to REVIEW!**

"How are you doing? How are you feeling?" she asked as she pulled her close to her chest after Avery calmed down and realized where she was. Emily pulled away and moved her hair behind her ear. Avery nodded and swallowed.

"Where's Jack?" she asked, Emily looked up at Hotch. "I want to see Jack." Avery said again.

"I'll go get him." Hotch said before walking away, Emily looked back over to Avery.

"How are you feeling sweetie?" Emily asked, Avery looked at her.

"Can I talk to Jack please..." Avery asked, Emily nodded, she stood up and walked over to the door. She wasn't quite sure why Avery was acting like that and wouldn't talk to her, but understood that Jack went through it with her and it would be easier to talk to him to begin with. Jack walked over to the room and looked at Emily before walking in past her, Emily let out a sigh and walked over a few steps to where Hotch was.

"Jack will talk to her..." Hotch assured her, Emily nodded with a sigh.

"I just wish she'd talk to me.."

Jack walked in the room, hearing the door shut behind him as he walked over to Avery who was still sitting up in the bed. She was looking out the window at the lights, Jack reached out and put his hand over hers as he sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Jack!" Avery exclaimed as she hugged him tight. "I'm so glad you're okay!" she said as he hugged her back, Avery let go and looked at him.

"I'm glad you're okay.." Jack told her as he sat down on the chair. "How are you feeling?" he asked as he pulled the chair closer to the bed.

"I just feel tired..." she said as she looked down at her hands, then back up. "Who was it? How did I get here?" she asked, Jack let out a sigh and looked to the right on the floor. "I don't remember anything, Jack. I need to know what happened." she said, Jack ran his hand through his hair. "What happened to your wrists?" she exclaimed as she grabbed his hand.

"I broke out of a rope that was tied around my hands, they started to bleed so it's just bandages, you have marks on your wrists from ropes too..." Jack said, Avery looked at the faint marks on her wrists. "They'll go away in a couple days."

"And yours wont..." Avery mumbled with guilt in her voice.

"I did what I did because I had to save you Avery, don't feel guilty because of it. Or think that it's your fault, because it's not." Jack told her, Avery let out a sigh.

"Who was it?" Avery asked, Jack sighed and looked at her. "Why wont you tell me?"

"Because, Avery... it's a long story. If I just tell you who it is, you'll be confused." Jack said, Avery looked at him with tears starting to form in her eyes. "His name was Evan Foyet.." Jack started to explain. "A couple years before you were born there was a serial killer that targeted my father, my mother and me... he killed my mother and my dad killed him before he could come after me.. Evan was his son." Jack explained, Avery nodded.

"What's gonna happen to Evan?" she asked, Jack looked at her.

"All I know is that he's okay to jail.. I don't know for how long..." he said, Avery nodded and looked down. Jack watched her as she looked at him.

"Thank you.." Avery said as she looked at him, Jack smiled.

"You're welcome." he said with a smile.

**x x x**

"Don't forget we have to get up early to do your homework!" Emily called as Avery ran upstairs, two days later the doctor said it was okay for her to be released because she was hydrated again. Avery was feeling great, she was really excited to be in her own bed. "I'll be up in a couple minutes!" Emily said as she put her stuff down on the counter. "Thanks for driving us home..." Emily said, the night before she slept at the hospital, the only time she actually left the hospital room was to go to the bathroom, let alone going home. She didn't want to leave Avery's side. JJ even got clothes, for both of them.

"Anytime," Hotch smiled as pulled out two wine glasses, Hotch raised his eyebrows.

"Don't tell me you don't have enough time to hang out and have a drink?" Emily asked. "We have a lot to talk about..." she said as she poured the two glasses.

"I know," Hotch said, Emily smiled.

"Make yourself at home," Emily said, Hotch smiled and walked over to the couch, Emily followed behind him with the wine glasses, she sat down while handing him one and taking a sip of hers before setting it on the table. The glass was now half as full when she just poured it, Hotch chuckled as he put his glass down. "You don't know how long I've been dying to have some wine," Emily said, the last time she had a glass of while _or alcohol alone _was more than 6 days ago, and over the past 3 days was when she needed it most.

"I know what you mean." he said, Emily smiled.

"So... _Foyet _had a _son_?" Emily asked, still completely shocked herself, _I mean, a son? _Hotch nodded with a sigh as he set the glass on the table.

"We were all shocked, too. None of us saw it coming, but it wasn't even _his _son..."

"Right, or else he wouldn't have put him in that huge life or death situation..." Emily said with a nod. "He messed up though..." Emily said, otherwise his job would have been complete with Jack dead, and because Avery didn't exist then, it just would have been an extra bonus for Evan. "He was taught_ by_ Foyet... so why didn't he complete his task like Foyet?" she asked him.

"A lot of inconvenient things that threw him off his game." Hotch said with a smile, Emily raised her eyebrows.

"Care to elaborate?" she asked, Hotch nodded.

"He was planning on taking Jack 2 weeks ago, the anniversary of his death, but then things didn't go as planned, Jack started staying out later at the library, so he had to change plans, then when he finally got used to Jack getting back late, Avery came along and he knew he couldn't wait any longer." Hotch said, Emily nodded.

"So he panicked and took them both? That could be why he gave her Rohypnol, he's not used to kids.. especially one who bites, kicks and screams... he knocked Jack out and if it were just him, that would have been enough, but Avery made the risk of getting caught go up..." Emily said, Hotch nodded.

"Exactly." he said. "The second thing that threw him off his game was when JJ answered the phone the second time he called, I instructed her to tell him that I was out getting food and she had no idea when I'd be back. Portraying me as someone who could care less, which made him angry. He would have gotten off by watching me fall apart, just like Foyet." he explained, Emily nodded. "And he _was _about to shoot Avery..." he continued. "Jack said the bullet in the revolver was a dud..." he said, watching her looked down.

"And if it wasn't she would be dead.." Emily said.

"He saved her though." he said, Emily nodded.

"I know, and I thanked him for that. I can't believe he risked his life that much..." Emily said as she shook her head. "How are his wrists? Still cut up?"

"They're starting to heal..." Hotch said, Emily nodded. "He's still telling me that they hurt, and they certainly look like they do. I offered for him to stay home from school the past couple days and he insisted on going back, he already caught himself up with all the work..." Hotch stopped himself before he started to blab more then he should have been.

"I'm glad he's taking it well..." Emily said.

"How about Avery? Is she taking it well?" Hotch asked, Emily sighed.

"She wont talk about it.. to me anyway... she's fine with talking to Jack for some reason..." Emily said as she took another sip of wine, she was confused about it herself and wished Avery would talk to her.

"That's understandable under the circumstances.." Hotch offered, trying to make her feel better, knowing by the look on her face the way she was feeling.

"I know, but... every time I ask her about it she either asks if we don't talk about it or she just stares at the TV and pretends like she didn't hear me..." Emily explained, Hotch sighed.

"Maybe we should get her to talk to someone..." he said, Emily shook her head.

"No, you know how I feel about psychologists... it's like being profiled like a criminal. But with them it's a whole different ball game." Emily said, Hotch sighed.

"I know," Hotch said, he felt the same way about psychologists. "Maybe there's someone both Avery and Jack can talk to, not necessarily a _psychologist__, _maybe a social worker that has dealt with children who've had traumatic things happen to them... it wouldn't have to be a regular thing as long as Avery opens up." Hotch said, Emily bit her lip. "I can start looking around and see if anyone has someone in mind. If they're not the best I'll keep looking. I just don't want Avery to keep it bottled up..."

"I know..." Emily nodded. "Thanks.." she said, Hotch smiled and nodded. "Did anyone say something about what happened? Like ask questions?" she asked.

"No... they didn't, but I know they want to know..." Hotch said, Emily nodded.

"Maybe we should get a drink with them after work tomorrow and tell them... I mean, they just found out about Avery and that she's your daughter and more importantly mine, I think they deserve an explanation..." Emily said, Hotch nodded.

"So do I." he said, Emily let out a sigh.

"I just started this job less than 3 months ago and I was already held at gun point and my daughter already got locked up in a school by an unsub and kidnapped..." she said as she let out a groan.

"Don't forget the getting stuck in a ditch thing," Hotch added with a chuckle, Emily nodded.

"Right." she laughed with him, after a long laugh shared between both of them, they just stopped when their eyes met. Neither of them could tell how long they were actually looking at each other until they heard a door shut and Avery walking downstairs, they both looked at her quickly and acted as if nothing happened. "Is something wrong?" Emily asked quickly, Avery gave her a confused look.

"I'm getting water..." she said before walking to the fridge and grabbing a water bottle.

"I'd better get going." Hotch said as he stood up. "I'll see you later Avery..." he said, Avery nodded as she hugged him.

"Thanks for saving me for the second time, dad! Even though I'm sure you would have even if you didn't work for the FBI." she said, Hotch smiled.

"You know I would have." Avery smiled. "We should get together and do something on Saturday if you guys aren't busy.." he said as he looked at Emily.

"Yeah!" Avery exclaimed. "I've been dying to go to the batting cages that just opened up down the street from JJ's!" she said as she looked at Emily.

"We'll talk about it tomorrow, you have to go to bed though." Emily said, Avery pouted.

"Night dad." she said as she walked towards the stairs, Emily raised her eyebrows. "Mom." she said bluntly as she walked upstairs, Hotch chuckled while Emily looked at him with raised eyebrows.

"That is so not funny. She's a brat."

"No she's not, she's clearly joking." Hotch said, Emily rolled her eyes.

"Goodnight, Aaron." she said as she walked towards him as he walked towards the door.

"See you tomorrow." he chuckled as he walked out and Emily shut the door and rolled her eyes with a smile as she walked up to talk to Avery before she went to bed. She heard a knock at the door 15 minutes later, she opened it, wondering who it could be.

"Hey.. I hope you don't mind that I stopped by..." JJ said as she stood at the door, Emily squinted her eyebrows, her hair was wet from the light rain and was starting to get a slight wave to it. Her voice sounded quieter then normal, not as happy as it usually did.

"Not at all..." Emily said as she moved out of the way. "Come in..." she said, JJ nodded and walked in. "It's late... where's Henry?" she asked.

"I dropped him off at a friends house... superintendence day at the middle school.." JJ said as she walked over to the kitchen.

"You thirsty? You want something to drink?" she asked, JJ nodded. "Water?" she nodded again as Emily grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge and set it on the table, JJ was now sitting on the stool and Emily sat across from her as she took a sip. "JJ..." she said as JJ looked up and gulped while sniffing in. "What's wrong? Did something happen?" she asked, JJ nodded as she looked up and tried to force back the tears.

"Will's not coming back..." she said, Emily looked at her.

"What?"

"He's not coming back." JJ said as she looked at her, Emily could see the water rimming her eyes.

"How?" Emily asked, not meaning to ask that, she was just _shocked_, she didn't know how to ask. "What did he say?" Emily rephrased it, JJ sighed.

"He just called and told me he wasn't coming back..." JJ said, Emily reached out and grabbed her hand. "Not like that," JJ said. "He just told me he was much happier there and that he wasn't coming back for a _while_... I mean, I don't know how long a while is.. it could mean another month.. another two months... _a year_." JJ explained.

"Well I don't think it really matters." Emily said, JJ looked at her. "Whether he's not coming back for another two months or a year, he's happier when he's _there _and not with his _family_? His _son_?" Emily asked, JJ sighed.

"I know..." she said. "I mean... I get that he might not be happy, but we had a son together and he didn't hesitate to leave New Orleans and come sacrifice his job and life down there for me, and for this to just happen all of a sudden... It makes no sense..."

"Why are you sad right now?" Emily asked, JJ gave her a confused look. "Answer the question..." she didn't mean to sound as forceful as it did, but she needed the answer.

"Because of Henry... I haven't even told him yet, how do I tell him something like this? 'Oh, I'm sorry Henry, you're father decided to be an ass and take off on us'?" Emily sighed.

"Did he say anything about Spencer?" she asked.

"No..." JJ said as she thought. "All he said was 'I know you'll be happy and that's all that matters to me right now'..." JJ said, Emily sighed.

"I know why he thought it was okay to leave..." Emily said, JJ looked up. "He thinks you already moved on and it makes him feel better about leaving." JJ sighed.

"So It's my fault?"


	27. Chapter 27: Busted

The Little Things – 27

**Authors Note: Thanks for ALL the reviews. I still hope you're liking this, sorry for saying that EVERY chapter.**

**My reviews just spiked from literally _265 _to _308 _like over night and I was just... amazed. How does that happen? A lot of the reviews were from anonymous reviewers, and I can't thank them personally with a message. So thank you! **

**Even If you don't have an account (or you don't feel like logging in) I appreciate ANY review :]**

**Since I got 308 reviews, I think I'll do ANOTHER one shot to add to my 'Aaron Hotchner's Not-So-Serious Side' collection of one shots :]**

**So I'll do the same thing I did when I was nearing 200 reviews, I'll ask for a prompt.**

**So in your review just write 'Prompt: _' I only got one prompt last time I did this, hopefully I get a little bit more this time!**

**I haven't been getting as much reviews as I did last time, are you guys loosing interest?**

**If you are, let me know and if you have any ideas on how I can make it better I'm ALWAYS open to them!**

**PLEASE review!**

"No, it's not, at all." Emily began to explain, she hated when JJ put herself down like that. Especially when it wasn't true, she was furious with Will in this situation, she thought he was better than this. They were together for almost 13 years, though. But he could have handled this much better, leaving Henry the way he did was not okay. JJ let out a sigh and rested her head on her hand that was leaning against the marble counter top from her elbow.

"New Orleans is so far away... I just don't know _how _I'm going to tell Henry. He already knows Will left for a _month_, now I'm supposed to tell him I have no idea when he'll be back? I thought Will was better than this." JJ said as she shook her head, she loved him so much 13 years ago and never expected anything like this to happen.

"So did everyone else." Emily said as she grabbed onto her hand. "Look, Jayje. He's a guy... you and him took a break, he's probably back with his friends and drinking almost every night. We all know it's fun _not _to have responsibilities. He will realize what a great girl he just threw out the window, and realize his _son _is more important then getting drunk and hanging out will friends." she told her, JJ nodded and dropped her hand and looked at Emily.

"You're right, Em..." JJ said. "He'll realize.. and when he does I have no intentions of depriving him from seeing Henry, but it'll be Henry's choice." she told her, Emily smiled.

"Atta girl." Emily said as she pulled her hand away. "So how is the situation with you and Spencer going again?" she asked with her eyebrows raised, JJ laughed and shook her head as she sniffed in.

"You always know how to make me laugh, Em." JJ said as she wiped the rim of her eyes as Emily handed her a tissue, JJ smiled and blew her nose before throwing it out. "Spence is... great." JJ gushed with a smile. "He's so understanding of the situation... he listens to me rant on about things, I thought it was impossible for him _not _to blurt out facts every two seconds, but he shuts it off when we talk." she said, Emily smiled at how happy she seemed when she was talking about Spencer. "And then, of course, he goes back to stating his statistics."

"Would Reid really be Reid without his annoying facts?" Emily asked with a laugh, JJ laughed too as she shook her head.

"No he wouldn't."

**x x x**

"I invited JJ out to get drinks with us tonight..." Emily mentioned to Hotch as she went to go in to get some more case files from him, Hotch looked at him. "Is that okay?"

"Of course it is, I'm just curious as to why?" Hotch asked, Emily didn't take offense to the serious tone in his voice. He's been looking at serious things all day, it takes him a little to start smiling and having a little bit of happiness in his voice.

"Two reasons..." Emily said as she adjusted the pile of case files so they were resting on her hip. "Some moral support... and she's having some trouble at home also I just figured 'why not', at least when JJ's there they'll refrain from strangling me." Emily said with a smile, Hotch raised his eyebrows. "I guess that's three..." she said, more as a thought to herself.

"They wouldn't strangle you." Hotch said, Emily shrugged.

"You don't know that for sure." Emily said as she walked towards the door. "You're getting out the same time as everyone else tonight, right?" she asked, Hotch looked at her. "Oh, come on, you don't want them waiting for you for a few hours, do you? Besides, you deserve to get out at 5 for once." she said, Hotch thought for a minute.

"It depends." he said as he looked back down at his work.

"On what?" Emily asked skeptically.

"On if I finish my work." he told her.

"Oh..." Emily said. "Well you better finish it, because either way, you're getting out at 5." she said with a nod as she walked out of his office, Hotch rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"Says you." he scoffed, even though it was to himself.

**x x x**

"Is Hotch _turning his office light off_?" Derek asked, he was confused, yet amazed at the same time. _Hotch turning his office light off at 5pm? No. Way. _

"That he is." Emily said with a nod.

"Did someone die?" he exclaimed, Emily looked at him.

"What? No you idiot." Emily said as she put her bag over her shoulder. "He's coming to get a drink with us." she said as she walked towards the glass doors.

"What?" Derek and Spencer exclaimed at the same time. She _had_ to be joking.

"So _why _did you actually come out with us?" Derek asked Hotch after him and Dave finished talking about something, it had been on his mind the whole time.

"Oh, hey JJ!" Emily exclaimed as she hugged JJ, she acted as if it were a surprise JJ was there.

"Whoa, hey guys! What a surprise seeing you here." she said as she sat down at on the stool.

"I know right?" Emily asked, Hotch smiled and shook his head at her horrible acting as Derek, Spencer, Penelope and Dave all raised their eyebrows. "_Okay_." Emily sighed. "You got us!" Emily said as she took a sip of her beer.

"_Busted_." JJ said with a sigh. "I'll have whatever she's having." JJ told the waitress as she walked over, as if on cue. "What?" JJ asked when they all looked at her.

"I'm guessing you all know the reason why we're _all _here." Hotch said, taking insinuative, knowing that if he didn't lead this conversation that Emily would keep trying to avoid it. Even though _she's _the one that decided to do this. Everyone gave him a blank stare, _besides _JJ. Emily was even doing it to join in on it. JJ put her hands out.

"Hotch having a daughter who has the last name 'Prentiss'!" she exclaimed.

"Ohhh," they all said.

"I just wanted to make sure we were all on the same page." Dave said with a shrug.

"Great, and now that we all are," Hotch said as he glanced over at Emily, who let out a sigh. _Guess it's my turn to explain my departure and my PERSONAL life. _

"Right... well... 10 years ago, I left the BAU..." she explained, even though everyone already knew that. "I did that because I was pregnant with Avery.." she said, it felt like she was 15 again, and what it would have been like to tell her extremely conservative mother she was pregnant. "And we obviously know who was the father and they we were involved at the time, it wasn't that hard to figure out."

"I didn't know." Spencer said.

"I knew you didn't." Emily said as she got back to the story. "Well I left because I wasn't sure what to do, I know that it was stupid and selfish now. But _I _was stupid and selfish... so 4 months ago Avery asked me about where I worked before I worked at my 9 to 5 desk job and I told her about the BAU, she asked me why I don't go back and she said she was okay with it, so I came back... I know I probably should have said something about it and I'm sorry I didn't, I just thought you guys deserved an explanation.." she explained.

"You weren't selfish or stupid, Prentiss. Avery is _yours _and _Hotch's _business, not ours. That's something that's personal and you don't need to be sorry for." Derek said, Emily smiled.

"Thanks Morgan." she said with a smile.

"He's right," Dave spoke up. "I was suspicious about the relationship that was going on between you and Hotch," he said as he glanced over at Hotch. "And I knew when you came back for sure that there _was _something going on. Now I get why you left when you were pregnant, Emily. You were scared of a lot of things and Strauss was one of them. The rules are bogus." _Yes, David Rossi did just say 'bogus'_.

"Might we remember _why _there are those rules." JJ said, Dave rolled his eyes.

"What I'm trying to say, is don't be sorry for anything you've done in the past. All you can do now is make it up with your future." he told her, Emily smiled.

"Very inspirational." Emily smiled as she looked at Penelope.

"Well, I already knew, but he's right, don't be sorry sweetie." she said with a smile, causing Emily to smile. "And JJ's right that he's the reason for those rules..." she said. "What do you think, Reid?" she said quickly to change the subject, Dave smiled and chuckled, as did everyone else.

"I'm still a little confused.. but mostly shocked. I had no idea..." Spencer said.

"You know, you're _really _smart... but you can be oblivious... almost always." Emily said as JJ got her drink and took a sip, Spencer shrugged.

"I can't help it..." he said.

"Alright," Dave said as he clapped his hands together. "Seeing as we're all together, I thought I'll take this time to tell you guys something." Dave said.

"You're pregnant?" Hotch said, causing everyone to laugh at his comment, even Dave. Hotch was funny when he wanted to be.

"_No_," Dave stressed. "But actually, I'm announcing my retirement to the BAU... again." he said, JJ looked at him as she stopped mid-sip, Derek set his drink down, Emily's eyes widened as she just got finished taking a sip of her beer, Spencer looked at him in complete shock, Penelope's mouth dropped half open and Hotch gave him a confused look, he didn't know _anything _about this.

"Seriously?" Derek asked, thinking he was joking, Dave nodded.

"Why?" Emily asked him.

"Well, because, Emily.." he said as he let out a sigh. "The obvious reason is that I'm getting old and I think my time is about up at the BAU. I loved working with you all and on this team. I've learned a lot and grown from the experience and I appreciate you all." he said.

"When will you be leaving?" Spencer asked.

"I told Strauss I'll be leaving at the end of the month, just so she has enough time to get a replacement or add someone to the team." Dave answered.

"Any ideas?" Emily asked.

"Strauss is thinking about bringing a cadet onto the team as a training opportunity, but I said I would need to approve of the person who is coming in to see if he or she is a good fit for the team." Dave said, they nodded.

"We have to stay in touch." Emily told him, Dave nodded with a smile.

"I wouldn't want it any other way." he told her.

"Good, because we still need to have a kickin' ass party at your house." Derek said with a smirk as he took a sip of his drink and set it on the table. "Am I right?"

"Yeah, Rossi, what do you say?" Emily asked, everyone looked at Dave, anticipating his answer, Dave raised his eyebrows and looked at them.

"We can have a party at my house the day I leave." he said with a nod, _they're suck kids_.

"Cheers to that!" Penelope exclaimed as she held her glass up and the clicks of their glasses colliding filled their ears.


	28. Chapter 28: Conclusions

The Little Things – 28

**Authors Note: I never imagined this story getting THIS far. And as promised, here is a little Hotch/ Emily action - NOT that kind of action ;] **

**But there is a little more Hotch/Emily in this part. There WILL be more soon :]**

**Leave a prompt for a Hotch/Emily one shot I promised in the last chapter.**

**I also got lots of reviews and decided to post earlier then normal – the next day. Let me know if you want me to wait an extra day or so next time :] I just update when I have it written AND when I get bunch of reviews as a thank you! :]**

**Please don't forget to review.**

"Jen, can I talk to you for a minute?" Dave asked JJ as they headed for the door and it got quieter as the first door shut in the bar. He always called her "Jen" for some reason, JJ never put her finger on it, but in Dave's opinion, "Jen" was more formal then "JJ".

"Yeah.." JJ said as she stepped aside. "I'll catch up," she told Emily. Hotch, Spencer, Penelope and Derek were already outside, Emily nodded as she walked into the door that already closed.

"Whoops! Okay JJ!" she said as she pushed the door open, JJ laughed and shook her head as she looked at Dave, who chuckled.

"She is so drunk." JJ said with a laugh as the door shut, Emily walked over to everyone else. Derek and Penelope were saying their goodbye's, which consisted of a hug and a kiss on the forehead from Derek. Spencer was smiling at Emily, and Hotch was looking at her with raised eyebrows. They all saw her walk into the door.

"Goodbye my love." Penelope said as she embraced Emily in a hug after Derek let her go, Emily hugged her back. "_Please _don't let her drive." She said once they pulled away.

"I am fine to drive." Emily said before she gave Spencer a hug. "Bye Spence!" she said while squeezing him. Spencer was shocked, because even when they went out their goodbye never consisted of a hug, usually 'see you tomorrow Reid' or 'see ya later Reid'. Derek chuckled and looked at Penelope, who looked at Hotch, who was raising his eyebrows.

"No you're not." Hotch said as he grabbed her arm when she pulled away from Spencer. He didn't _grab _her arm, more of a small shove, but if he didn't lead her in the direction he needed her to go in, she would have probably walked into a ditch. She wasn't _completely _wasted, but she had 2 beers and 2 martini's. In her defense, Derek decided to dance for about 2 hours. She didn't have as low as a tolerance to alcohol as someone like JJ, because she's so petite, or Spencer because he's skinny and hardly drank, but 4 drinks in 2 hours is a lot of alcohol.

"Yes I am." Emily said as they heard the door open and they all looked over at JJ and Dave, who were walking out. Emily walked over to JJ and hugged her. "See you in... 10 minutes." Emily said as she laughed a little, JJ smelt the tons of alcohol on her breath and looked at Hotch.

"I'll drive her..." she said to him before Penelope and Derek walked over after saying their goodbyes to Dave. JJ said her goodbyes to the two of them and they were off, in separate cars of course, Emily was the only drunk one tonight. "Bye Spence.." JJ said as she gave him a quick hug, of course getting whistling noises from Derek as he drove by. "He's such a jerk." JJ said as she shook her head.

"I'll see you guys Monday." Spencer said to Hotch and Emily before walking off to his car, Dave said goodbye to the three of them while walking to his car.

"Are you sure you want to drive her? I can easily drive her.." Hotch told JJ.

"Well, we're going to your house anyway because of Henry and Avery, it wouldn't really make that much of a difference." JJ said, while they were deciding _who _was going to drive them, Emily was thinking.

"What about my car?" Emily asked.

"Right, it wouldn't make much of a difference," Hotch said, they didn't even pay attention to what she said. "So I can drive her." he said, he was stubborn, it was mostly because he was being protective of her, JJ scoffed.

"Hotch, I can take her. You have to worry about getting _in _the house," JJ told him, _she _was protective of Emily just as much. They were best friends.

"I'm not a child!" Emily said, trying to get their attention.

"I can get us in the house without trouble-"

"SHUT UP!" Emily practically screamed, they looked at her, both shocked she yelled. "We'll settle this the logical way." Emily told them as she picked up a small twig and broke it in half then held them in her fist. "Pick one." she said, Hotch raised his eyebrows.

"Emily-" he began to say.

"Pick a stick." she ordered, he scoffed and reached for the one closest to JJ's side, JJ rolled her eyes and grabbed the other stick. "And... JJ has the smaller one." Emily said, Hotch rolled his eyes and dropped the stick on the ground.

"See you in 15 minutes. Drive safe." he said as he walked to his car.

"You drive safe, too Hotch!" JJ called as she locked elbows with Emily and walked to her car. Now that was wasn't working for Hotch, it was even funner to push his buttons and be like 'HA HA!'. They arrived at Hotch's house 15 minutes later. "Are you sure you don't want me to drive her to my house?" JJ asked him as the half asleep Henry trailed behind her.

"It's fine," Hotch told her. "Avery's sound asleep, it wouldn't make much sense to wake her up just to bring her back to your house." he said, JJ nodded.

"Alright, well, call me if you need anything.." JJ said as she headed for the door. "Just thought I'd let you know that if you wake her up early she'll get in a pissy mood and stuff." she said.

"Mom!" Henry whined at the door, wanting to leave after his mother woke him up in the middle of the night.

"Like that, but Emily worse." she said, referring to when Emily gets pissed, which is worse then a teenage boy, although, they were _pretty _close.

"Thanks for the tip." Hotch said, JJ smiled as she left with Henry, Hotch let out a sigh and walked over to the living room, where Emily was on the couch. "Are you tired?" he asked, Emily started to yawn and she nodded. "Come with me." he said as he walked up the stairs, Emily followed into his room as he opened the closet. "I'll make the guest bed for you..." he began to say, but Emily was already taking her pants off and getting into his bed. He squinted on his eyebrows and walked over, putting the blankets he just got on the edge of the bed as he looked at her. She looked sound asleep. _But it's been 2 seconds_. He thought as he snapped in front of her face, then waved his hand in front of her face. He didn't want to shake her to wake her up, it wasn't that important. She looked so peaceful sleeping, after realizing he was staring at her, he grabbed the blankets off the bed and walked towards the door.

"Aaron..." he heard her mumble, Hotch put the blankets down on the stool and looked at her. "Stay here.." she mumbled as she hit the empty space in the king size bed next to her. Hotch looked at her, she didn't say another word. He shrugged,_ there's no use in making the bed..._ He thought before he grabbed his night clothes and changed in the bathroom before getting into bed and shutting off the light, falling asleep shortly after.

**x x x**

"Dad?" Avery said as she walked to the door to Hotch's door as she opened the door, Jack ran up behind her. Avery's eyes widened when she saw Hotch and Emily laying in bed next to one another.

"I told you not to wake him up..." Jack's voice trailed off as he looked at the two of them, Emily squinted her eyes from the light, and the confusion as she looked at both Avery and Jack standing in the doorway. "Uh, let's go back downstairs.." Jack said as he looked at Hotch before pulling Avery out and he shut the door behind him.

"Hotch..." Emily mumbled as she stretched her back while moving her head into the pillow, the light was _way _to bright for her eyes. Hotch opened his eyes, squinting, too, from the sudden light that filled his eyes. He looked at Emily. "What happened?" she asked as she sat up, grabbing her slid on her black slacks. Hotch sat up and rubbed his head as he thought.

"You were drunk..." he said as he looked at her, Emily let out a groan.

"I'm sorry..." she said. "I have to go.." she said quickly as she ran out of the room and down the stairs. "Avery, we have to leave now." she said as she grabbed her coat that was on the coat rack and put it on, she wasn't even sure if something happened last night... and if it did, that would be horrible. She was extremely confused and embarrassed.

**x x x**

"Wow..." was all JJ could say after Emily just explained what happened just an hour earlier as Emily nodded and sipped on the much needed coffee JJ made for her. "And you're not sure what happened?" JJ asked.

"None of it." Emily said as she shook her head and set the mug on the table after a big sip as she let out a sigh. "I mean, I remember leaving... and hugging Spencer..." Emily said as she thought back. "Oh and Rossi wanting to talk to you about something, what was that about, anyway?" she asked as she took another sip.

"It's nothing that important," JJ told her as she shook her head. "I'm sure nothing happened.." she said, on a happier note, Emily looked at her. "Hotch wasn't drunk, I mean, if anything he was _sober _by that time. He only had 2 beers in 3 hours, that's hardly anything for someone his size." JJ said, Emily nodded as she put the mug down.

"I just don't know what to do about Avery... _Jack _probably thinks I'm a whore or hates me." Emily said as she took another sip.

"I highly doubt that, Em." JJ told her as she took a sip. "Hotch will probably set Jack straight, Jack's pretty understanding, he may have jumped to _conclusions_, but in the situation you two were in. I would have thought the same thing. I mean, ya had no pants on."

"I don't sleep with my pants on, and that's besides the point." Emily said. "What should I tell Avery? I mean, how do you approach a subject like that?"

"Just tell her how it is." JJ said. "She's almost 11, she's mature enough to understand what happened, and that is nothing." JJ said, Emily let out a sigh and nodded. "You should tell her _soon_, it's probably on her mind."

"Yeah..." Emily said as she looked at Avery and Henry, who were watching SpongeBob SquarePants. "Avery." she said loud enough for her to hear, Avery looked over. "Can you come here for a minute?" she asked, Avery sighed and got off the couch. She was interrupting her _favorite _show. _This better be good_. Emily's phone started ringing, she felt around for her phone that was in her jacket pocket. "I have to answer this, sorry Avery." she said before walking away, JJ looked at Avery.

"How are you doing?" JJ asked, Avery shrugged as she sat across from her in the chair, where Emily sat before. "How are you dealing with what happened a few days ago?" JJ asked her, Avery looked down. "You know what, Avery, I am so proud of you." JJ said, Avery looked up. "I am so proud of how well you did and how well you're handling it." JJ said, Avery nodded. "And if you ever need anyone to talk to, for _anything, _Whether it is about what happened, or _boys_" she said with a smile, causing Avery to grin. "You know I'm here." Avery nodded and let out a sigh.

"Can I actually tell you something about that?" Avery asked, JJ nodded.

"Of course." she said with a look of compassion and concern.

"I can't remember much of it..." Avery began to say. "But I do remember crying over Jack after we were put into the car.. I was so scared something happened to him..." water started to form around her eye lids. "And when he stopped the car, he pulled me out first. I didn't want to leave Jack, I told him to let me go and I was kicking and screaming... I bit him..." she said as she looked down at her hands, JJ held her hands out to lay over Avery's. "After I bit him, he threw me on the floor and put a needle in my arm... I couldn't remember anything after that..."

"That's completely fine." she said with a nod. "You wanted to stay with Jack, you wanted to make sure he was okay. And you didn't want to get hurt, it's a reaction everyone gets."

"I couldn't help Jack. He did everything by himself." Avery said.

"Well, sweetie, the man gave you a drug that makes you tired, you couldn't do anything about it." JJ said, Avery sighed.

"Has that ever happened to you?" Avery asked.

"Feeling helpless?" JJ asked, Avery nodded, then JJ did. "I got hit in the back of the head with a block of wood, I was so woozy, I didn't know what hit me..." Avery nodded.

"Thanks JJ..." Avery said, JJ smiled.

"Hey, any time kiddo." JJ said as she let go of her hand as she glanced over at Emily, whom she could see in the other room talking on the phone.

"Hello?" Emily answered after walking away from the two of them, she knew it was Hotch though from the caller ID. She didn't want to ignore the call because that would just be messed up.

"Emily, I'm sorry about last night.."

"Why?" Emily asked. "What I mean is, you shouldn't me." she rephrased her sentence. "Nothing even happened, and if you're apologizing for sleeping next to me in _your _bed, you shouldn't be."

"I just... you left in a hurry, I didn't know whether it was because I was there or for some other reason." Hotch told her.

"Well, thanks for caring." Emily said. "Did you talk to Jack?" she asked.

"Yeah, actually, I did." Hotch said. "He said he understands, but he just wants to make sure Avery doesn't get the wrong impression... he's worried about her reaction for obvious reasons..."

"Right, of course." Emily said. "I was actually about to tell her what happened..." she said.

"That's good..." Hotch said. "I'll let you get to that."

"Alright, I will call you later." Emily said.

"Okay, bye." he said as he hung up, Emily instantly cursed herself out, _multiple times _for saying 'I'll call you later' instead of 'See you Monday at work'. It was like she just got back to the BAU all over again.


	29. Chapter 29: More Talking

The Little Things – 29

**Authors Note: I know people are sad about Dave leaving in this story, but fret not, he will still be in it for a little while longer, and even after he is retired. I personally love Dave and his sense of humor and I don't think this story would be quite the same if I cut Dave out completely, so I wont :]**

**I have a plan, too. There is a mystery to whom will be now joining the BAU. There is a cadet on the show, as most of you know, Ashley Seaver. It MIGHT be her and it MIGHT not be her. I may make up an original character, or just completely surprise you. **

**Sorry it took so long to update, I got stuck momentarily, but everything's good now!**

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"Alright... sorry about that." Emily said as she walked back over to the two of them and sat down next to Avery. "I wanted to talk about what you saw this morning..." It was easier to confront Avery about something like this. Avery nodded. "Well, I just wanted to make sure you didn't get the wrong impression. You see, last night I had a few to many drinks, which I normally don't do, and I couldn't drive home. So since you were down there with Henry and Jack, JJ drove me home, when I got there I just fell asleep in your dads bed because I was tired... do you get what I'm trying to say?" Emily asked, Avery shrugged.

"You know how you and Henry sometimes share a bed when you're super tired?" JJ stepped in, Avery nodded. Emily smiled at JJ and looked back over to Avery.

"It was just two friends sharing a bed and nothing more than that, okay?" Emily asked, Avery nodded.

"Can I go watch more TV now?" she asked, Emily nodded and Avery walked away, Emily let out a sigh and looked at JJ.

"Thanks for stepping in... maybe I should have just _not _have addressed it..." Emily said with a shrug as she finished the last of her coffee, JJ shook her head.

"No, that was good. You always need to address those type of things so they don't grow up with the wrong idea." JJ said as she grabbed the coffee cup and poured her some more, Emily let out a sigh as she took a sip when she handed it back. "So..." JJ said, Emily looked up at her.

"Mmm?"

"So... do you _wish_something happened last night?" JJ asked, Emily nearly choked on her coffee as she grabbed a napkin to wipe it off her chin, JJ laughed.

"_No_ I do not." Emily said. "Do you know how complicated everything would have been after that if something _did _happen?" Emily asked.

"If things were different." JJ said, Emily looked at her and sighed.

"I'm completely under sexed." she said, JJ laughed.

"So that's a 'yes'?"

"If things were different? Like we were _together_? Then, _yes_, I think I would have ended up having sex with my boyfriend. But we're not, so..." she said with a shrug as she took a sip of her coffee.

"Do you wish you were?" JJ asked, Emily looked up at her. She suddenly hated JJ... not really _JJ _herself, but her questions. She really hated those questions.

"No..." Emily sounded more distressed then she wanted to as she sighed. "I mean... _no_." she said, mainly to tell her self 'no'. "We couldn't be... we're fine right now with the way things are. That will just complicate the whole situation."

"Do you _want _to be?" JJ pushed, knowing what answer she would eventually get at, the one Emily _needed _to hear herself say.

"JJ." Emily said as she looked at her. "It doesn't matter how I feel... right now it matters how any little thing with effect Avery and Avery alone. All that matters right now is Avery." Emily said as she took a sip of her coffee.

"I understand that, but it might be easier to say that if you _face _how you feel." JJ said as she took a sip of her coffee, Emily sighed. That's what friends are for, to _push _you into the right direction, make you face the truth. No matter how hard it may hurt.

**x x x**

"Morning, Prentiss..." Dave said as Emily walked into the conference room, Dave and Spencer were the only ones there and Emily just got a text message saying there was a case, 3am on a Monday, Emily's response was a mumble as she sat down on a chair.

"I didn't miss 3am wake up calls 3 months ago." Emily said. "Where's Morgan?"

"He's on his way." Spencer answered.

"We don't know how long it'll take." Dave said with a shrug, Emily laughed as she took a sip of her coffee, she never leaves the house without it.

"I'm not even late." Derek said as he sat down next to Emily.

"Actually, we're supposed to be here 15 minutes earlier then the time we're supposed to be in so that we can get everything done faster." Spencer said as he flipped the page in his book. "So technically, you are late."

"Let's not get technical here." Derek said as Hotch walked in.

"The Law Enforcement Center in Woodbridge asked us for some assistance on recent killings." Hotch said as he gave each of them a file. "There has been 6 robberies reported, the first 2 left the people inside unharmed, one didn't have anyone in the house, the next one after that left a man hit a few times, nothing harmful, the 5th one left a man and woman beaten nearly to death and the most recent one left a man and women shot, and a child suffocated." Hotch explained as he flipped through the pictures, he finished explaining everything else that's been going on then finished with, "We will be working out of this office, Detective Garrison will be waiting for Morgan and Rossi at the department in 40 minutes. Reid-"

"I'll work up a geographical profile." as if he'd be doing anything different, he enjoyed making them more then going out to crime scenes, that was usually Derek's job. Dave usually did victimology and Emily usually rotated depending on what Hotch wanted her to do at the time. Today it was victimology.

"I'll be in touch with the Detective throughout," Hotch told Derek and Dave, another pain in the ass job to add to his list, he already needed to do more then the team, but he had gotten used to it because JJ has been gone for quite a while. "Garcia has more information, call her if need be." he told them as they headed for the door. Spencer got up and grabbed a map of Virginia and pinned it on the wall. Emily looked over at Hotch. "Work victimology.. Garcia has more information." he told her, Emily nodded and went to Penelope's office.

**x x x**

"Okay, so we have Carlos Martinez and Maria Torres-Martinez." Emily read from the file as she leaned back in the chair and put both of their pictures on the chair next to her. Usually she hated working victimology, it was boring, but she didn't mind working it with Penelope, who had funny comments every once in a while.

"They both live together." Penelope said, Emily raised her eyebrows.

"Thank you captain obvious." she said as she took a sip of her 3rd cup of coffee as she placed it back on the table to her right.

"You are quite welcome my love," Penelope said with a smile. "They lived in a 50,000 dollar house that, ooh man." Penelope commented. "They lost a _bunch _of money from their house... it's worth 37,000 now..." she said, Emily raised her eyebrows. "Sorry, well they didn't have much stuff to take..."

"That could explain why they were beaten to death..." Emily mumbled as she wrote down each of their information from the case file onto the index card.

"Okay, _ew_." Penelope said, Emily smiled and chuckled as she pinned the two pictures up on the dry erase board, along with the index cards next to their pictures. "It's not funny, okay, I'm not used to seeing dead bodies, like you. They still get to me." Emily shook her head as she took a sip of the coffee.

"The last victims is the Turner family where Johnson, Jessica and Charlie Turner lived..." Emily read.

"Is that where the boy was...?" Penelope's voice trailed off as Emily nodded and Penelope gave all the information to her that she had.

"Okay..." Emily said with a sigh as she looked at each of the victims. "We finished..." Emily said as she read over the information again. "I guess I'll go let Hotch know.." Emily said.

"Hey, what ever happened Friday night?" Penelope asked, Emily looked at her. "I mean, who drove you home? I just want to make sure you didn't.."

"No, of course not." Emily said as she took another sip of her coffee. "JJ drove me to Hotch's and apparently I crashed on his bed.." Emily said as she took another sip, she didn't want to keep it from her and be like 'Oh, nothing, bye!', she's shut Penelope out enough lately.

"And where was Hotch?" Penelope asked, Emily set her glass down.

"He was there too..." she said, Penelope's eyes widened.

"Like _in _the bed?" Penelope asked to make sure what she was thinking was correct, Emily nodded.

"Yeah, but nothing happened, I swear. It was just one of those drunken slumbers... Hotch was sober by that time anyway." Emily said with a shrug.

"Are you sure he didn't do anything?" Penelope's voice wasn't shocked or confused anymore, she said it with a smirk. It was amazing how fast she could transition.

"Goodbye, Garcia." Emily said with a smile as she walked out of her office.

**x x x**

"Hey, Emily... do you think we can talk before you go.." Hotch said as he lightly touched her arm, the team gave the detective as much information as he needed and Hotch decided they no longer needed to help unless it got completely out of control. Emily looked at him.

"Right now?" Emily asked him.

"It's not about the job..." he told her. "We could make it a little less formal..." he offered.

"Is it about Friday?" she asked, Hotch nodded. "I could stop by your house after I got get Avery and we can talk then?" she asked, Hotch nodded.

"That sounds good. Do you want to eat dinner there? We could order something..." he said, Emily nodded.

"That sounds good, too. We'll decide when we get there." she said, Hotch nodded. "See you later." she said before walking away. _Why is it so awkward talking to him.. all over again?_

**x x x**

"Are you sure you don't wanna stay for dinner? I was making mac and cheese for the kids and chicken." JJ said as Emily walked in.

"Nah, Avery and I have to go over to Hotch's to_ talk_..." Emily told her.

"Ooo," JJ said. "The dreaded word." she said, Emily nodded.

"Yup." she said, _talking _scared Emily more then it did JJ, it was more of a mock, but in the situation they were in, it was pretty scary. Or at least awkward and annoying to have to _talk _so much. "I don't even know why he has to talk about it? Can't we just leave it the way it is and forget about it?"

"Well, Em, you do need to talk about _forgetting _it. I think he just wants an excuse to see you anywhere besides work." JJ said, Emily raised her eyebrows.

"Yeah, right. Whatever." Emily said as she rolled her eyes. "But we talked about it Saturday morning, he's probably gonna be like 'by the way, I totally took advantage of you while you were piss drunk Friday night'." Emily said, JJ laughed.

"I doubt it," JJ said. "I mean, how long as it been since the man had sex, seeming as he's not one for one night stands _and _he hasn't been in a relationship since you. I'd say, 10 years."

"Come on, he's been on dates." Emily said.

"Yeah, _dates_, he hasn't had a girlfriend since you."

"How the hell would you know the difference?"

"Believe me, I can tell." JJ said with a smirk, Emily raised her eyebrows.

"Okay then, of course the non-profiling media liaison knows." Emily said as she put her bag over her shoulder, JJ laughed. 

"He's so much happier now that you're back..."

"Has he been smiling more?"

"That point is not valid." JJ said, knowing where Emily was getting at. "He smiled more after you and even after you were gone he would smile, _sometimes._ But not nearly as much as he has recently. It's like he has a high school crush." JJ said with a smile.

"I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing... considering his high school crush was Haley." Emily said, JJ looked at her.

"You know what I mean." JJ told her, Emily shrugged.

"Mkay... well I have to go to Hotch's now..." Emily said as she looked over at Avery, who was walking over to them.

"We're gonna go see dad?" Avery asked with the biggest smile on her face, causing Emily to smile and she nodded. "Awesome!"

"But only for dinner." Emily reminded her. "Did you get all your homework done?" Avery nodded quickly as she put her coat on. "You know I get notices when you don't complete your homework, right?" Emily asked, Avery sighed.

"Darn."

"Hey, there is no reason to say that." Emily told her.

"Poop." Avery said in spite of what Emily said, Emily rolled her eyes. "What! It's hard! I can't do it!" Avery exclaimed, Emily's eyes widened.

"Avery, there is no need to raise your voice." Emily told her. "What didn't you do?" she asked, Avery looked down at her feet. "I wont be mad at you, can you please just tell me?"

"Math," Avery said. "I suck at math! I can't do it. I'm so stupid." Emily wasn't believing what she was hearing, never has she heard Avery doubt herself so much to call herself stupid.

"Just because you get stuck on something hard doesn't mean your stupid." Emily told her.

"Yeah and why didn't you tell me? I could have helped you." JJ stepped in as she put away some dishes that were in the dishwasher, Avery let out a sigh.

"I didn't want to bather you earlier because you were on the phone for a _really _long time and they don't give us time to do homework at daycare." Avery answered.

"On the phone, huh?" Emily asked with raised eyebrows. "With Spencer, I'm guessing? He was talking on the phone as he was leaving the BAU earlier..." Emily said, JJ glared at her. "We'll just have to get up early enough to finish it up," Emily got back on track with the conversation.

"Okay mom..." Avery said with a sigh as she put her bag over her shoulder.

"Have a great talk." JJ said with a smile as she put a glass away, Emily scoffed.

"Yeah, and you and I will be _talking_ about Spencer tomorrow." she said as she walked towards the door.

"Not gonna happen." JJ sang as she shut the cabinet, Emily smiled and shook her head as she walked out of the house with Avery.

"Mom?" Avery asked, Emily looked at her. "Whose Spencer?"


	30. Chapter 30: Maturity

The Little Things – 30

**Authors Note: Thanks for all the reviews.**

**Here is 'The Talk' Emily has been dreading. I hope you guys like it.**

**Short and sweet :]**

**Please review!**

"Jack, do you think you could help Avery with her math for a little?" Hotch asked after they all finished eating, Jack nodded, getting the hint that it was a 'grown up' talk, even though he would understand the whole thing.

"You stuck with fractions again?" Jack asked, Avery nodded as she brought her bag with him to the other room, Emily smiled and got up, grabbing her plate and Avery's.

"I can get those..." Hotch said as he stood up.

"It's fine," Emily said as she walked into the kitchen with Hotch following close behind with his and Jack's plate in his hands. "Thanks for ordering the pizza." Emily said as she put the plates in the sink and letting the water run over them, the truth was she wanted to avoid anything he was going to say about Friday.

"No problem, I know how much Avery loves pizza." he said with a smile as he washed off his other two plates. "I have coffee running in the coffee maker, it should be ready now if you want some." Hotch told her, Emily raised her eyebrows as if to say _coffee at nearly 8pm? Are you kidding me? _"It's decaf." Hotch said with a small smile, Emily nodded as she walked over and grabbed herself a mug and him one.

"I swear, I didn't have coffee for 10 straight years... then I came back to the BAU and I'm addicted." she said as she poured herself a glass. "I think it's un healthy." she said with a shrug as she added some milk and took a sip.

"I think everyone on the team has an un healthy addiction to coffee." Hotch said with a small chuckle as he poured himself a cup.

"Touché," Emily said as she sat at the table in the kitchen and set the cup on the table, while letting out an inaudible sigh. "So you wanted to talk about something.." she said, Hotch nodded as he took a seat across from her. He had yet to be out of his work clothes, still wearing his button down shirt with the tie loosened around his neck, along with black slacks, Emily was still in her work clothes, also.

"Yeah, actually about Friday night.." he said, his intentions were to tell her how he _really _felt, starting with Friday night as a breaker.

"Yeah... listen, I'm sorry about that, I was obviously drunk and I had no business being in your bed..." Emily began to ramble, a curse that was brought upon her in awkward situations. "I mean, could you image in you were drunk, too? That would have been a nightmare, I mean, considering what's happened in the past when the both of us were drunk.. I was totally out of line and I apologize..." she finished. "What were you gonna say?" she asked after realizing she just rambled _and _that he was the one that wanted to talk about it and brought it up, not her.

"Right... well I just wanted to clear things up about it." he told her, Emily smiled.

"Okay," she gave her nervous, loud laugh. "Great." she said with a smile as she looked at the clock. "Gosh, is that the time _already_?" Emily asked, she was actually shocked to notice it was already 8:15, it was only more convenient to her that it was that late. "It's almost Avery's bed time.. and we have to get early to finish her homework and stuff..." she said as she stood up.

"Of course, do you want to bring home the extra slices of pizza?" Hotch asked, Emily shook her head.

"No, that's fine. Thanks for letting us come over, though... I'll see you tomorrow?" she asked, Hotch nodded. "Avery, we have to go!" Emily called into the living room.

"Coming mom!" Avery called back as she got her stuff ready and said goodbye to Jack as she walked over. "Thanks for dinner dad, it was my favorite!" she said as she gave him a hug, Hotch smiled.

"I'm glad you liked it."

"I _loved _it." Avery said with a smile, causing Hotch to smile.

"Thanks for everything... bye Jack!" Emily said as she brought Avery out with her. _Could you have been any ruder?_ She thought to herself as she went out to the car.

**x x x**

"You are so..." JJ said into the phone later that night, but her voice trailed off. She didn't know how to finish the sentence without seeming rude.

"_Stupid_?" Emily asked with a sigh. "I know, I couldn't help it JJ... What is wrong with me..?" Emily said with a groan, JJ smiled.

"Nothing's wrong with you, Em..." JJ said. "You left the first man you were basically in love with 10 years ago, you can't expect things to be perfect when you get back, the feelings never left." she said, Emily let out another sigh.

"To be honest, JJ..." this was the first time Emily was going to be honest _with herself_. "You're completely right," she let out a defeated sigh. "I expected things to be different, and they're clearly not... I just have to get over it and move on. It's obviously not going to work." Emily said, JJ's eyes widened.

"No, Em, that's _not _what I meant." JJ started to say.

"Is that already the time?" Emily said, she didn't even look at the clock.

"You're being so immature. You need to buck up and tell him how you fell Emily. You are 39 years old! Act your damn age!" JJ said in a firm voice before hanging up the phone, Emily let out a sigh. She's completely right, and that's exactly what she hated.

**x x x**

"Hey.. I just wanted to apologize for last night... lately I've just been a little out of it..." Emily told Hotch with a sigh as she put a file down, it was 4:30pm and usually they did an hour or so of making profiles together, Derek was having a late lunch and Spencer was in the bathroom, Hotch didn't look up from his file.

"Don't worry about it." he told her as he opened the next file as he read off what was going on, Emily responded in a profile of what she thought as nodded and wrote it down, adding a few of his own stuff. Emily watched him as he was writing and let out a sigh. Sometimes Hotch would just read them aloud for good measure if he wanted to make sure what he thought was right, even though, 99.9 percent of the time, it was.

"You're angry with me... and you have a right to be." she said with a sigh. "I have the capability to be such a bitch, I just wish I decided not to take it." she said in a lower voice, Hotch stuck it in the file and put it in the pile and he looked at her, Emily looked up at him. "You have to admit I was sort of being a bitch." she said, Hotch sighed.

"You weren't being a bitch," he told her. "I understand the situation was awkward because believe me, it was awkward for me too." he said an unamused chuckle as he looked at her, Emily let out a sigh.

"Yesterday JJ told me I need to buck up and act my own age," she said with a sigh.

"She gives good advice." Hotch told her as he finished writing more stuff down with his own file as Emily opened hers, she smiled at him.

"I wish JJ was back here," she said with a sigh. "Think of all the inspiration we'd have around here. She's the one that really brings us up when we're gloomy." Emily said as she wrote her own profile, Hotch chuckled.

"She'd certainly distract Reid." he said as he checked to make sure Spencer wasn't back, Emily lifted the pen as she looked at him. "What?" Hotch asked with a small smile. "You think I can't tell there's something going on between them?" Hotch asked, Emily chuckled to herself and shook her head. "Friday night he tensed up when JJ went to hug him goodbye, usually, he would gladly hug her, but his voice got a few pitches higher when he said 'goodbye' to her, then he cleared his throat and proceeded to say goodbye to everyone else, then he left." Hotch answered, Emily nodded.

"I guess I was too busy wondering how I would get my car to me, but I had to take a cab _with _Avery Saturday morning." Emily said with a smirk.

"I could have driven you and Avery to your car, _you're _the one that rushed out." he said, Emily rolled her eyes. "Reid's coming, should I say something?" Hotch asked with a smile as he saw Spencer walking back from the bathroom through the window.

"_No, _are you kidding me? It'll make him feel so awkward and self conscious." Emily answered, Hotch let out a small chuckle and stopped when Spencer walked in to take his seat.

They finished a forty five minutes later, Derek showed up when there was a half hour left into it, but Hotch didn't seem to care because he stayed late the other night, for once. It was like only _he _could get away with that. Emily picked her files up and began to walk out after Spencer, then she let out a sigh and turned back around after remembering what JJ told her.

"Hotch..." she said as she turned around, Hotch looked up at her as a 'go ahead and talk' look. "I was wondering if we could talk sometime about a few things actually, one is maybe setting up an arrangement so that you can hang out with Avery without me there..." she told him, secretly Hotch was wondering when she'd offer to do that. He wanted to see Avery more often then he did, but after what happened not even 2 weeks ago, he wasn't sure about how protective Emily would start to be.

"That would be nice," he said. "How about Friday night we can talk if we don't have a case.. Jack will be at his friends house so I don't know if you want to bring Avery..." he told her.

"I'll leave her at JJ's... it'll be less to worry about..." she said, he nodded. "See you tomorrow."

"You too." he said as she walked out, he smiled to himself. He was a little upset about how she left the other night, but could he really blame her, after all she's been through, after all they both have been through. He thought it would be a good idea to bring up what he was feeling that Friday night, he's never hoped so much that they wouldn't have a case because if they did, it would probably set things back to the way they were before. Maybe even after they talk about it, it'll make things so much easier, it'll make things less awkward and maybe even get their relationship back to where it was, maybe not even how it was before she left, but how it was before they got back together.


	31. Chapter 31: Platonic

The Little Things – 31

**Authors Note: Thanks for your reviews... there's not much to say in here, besides I have a fic up called 'Compromising Situations' and it touches base on the teams reaction after Emily is gone if you wanna check it out.**

**Sorry it took so long to update, I had an unfortunate encounter with writers block :/**

**And a Trojan horse was on my computer for an afternoon (my user name got hacked) but it's back now. :]**

**I hope you like this part. Please don't forget to review :]**

"Good, I'm proud of you." JJ told her with a smile. "When are you gonna let Hotch see Avery?" she asked, Emily shrugged as she let out a sigh.

"I'm not even sure, ya know? Our job obviously isn't that normal, and when I have some time off, he most likely has that time off. I hardly get to see her enough as it is, but I can't take Hotch's right to see her away because I'm being selfish, like I have been for the past 10 years." Emily said as she put her hand in her head as she let out a sigh. "Hopefully it'll all work out for the best."

"Right, and I'm sure it will." JJ told her as Emily looked down at her vibrating cellphone, Emily let out a groan as she put it back in her pocket. "Got a case?" JJ asked, Emily nodded.

"This better not go until Friday, I will be pissed." she said as she stood up. "Avery, can you come here for a minute?" she called, Avery ran down stairs.

"Are we gonna go now?" she asked, Emily sighed.

"I got to go to work..." she said, Avery nodded. "So you're gonna stay with JJ until I get back.." Emily said as she looked at Avery, who let out a sigh.

"Just please come back safe.." Avery said as she hugged her, it pained Emily to hear her say that, or even _think _that she wouldn't. But she knew every time she said goodbye to go on a case, there was a chance of it being there last goodbye. Emily leaned down to get eye level with her as she gave her a hug.

"Avery," she said as she pulled away and looked in her eyes. "I will come back safe," she assured her, Avery nodded as she hugged her again.

"I love you mom.." she said as she hugged her.

"I love you too Avery."

**x x x**

"What's up this time?" Derek asked as he walked onto the plane right after Emily did, they all met at the plane because Hotch told them the Detective wanted them to meet there as soon as they could.

"Detective Cole with the San Francisco PD asked us to come by as soon as we could." Hotch answered as Emily and Derek both took their seats. "A year ago March 19th there were a series of rapes committed in the North Beach area, 24 to be exact."

"Let me guess," Derek said. "They never found him and now he's back?" Hotch nodded.

"A year ago the rapist stopped, which left them without any leads. These rapes went on for 2 months, and they started back up again a week and a half ago, 4 women have already been raped and murdered." Hotch told them. "He dumps the bodies without any clothes on and in back allies inside dumpsters, so it's a few days before these bodies were found."

"And the UnSub escalated to killing them." Dave said, Hotch nodded.

"Which is why they didn't connect the rapes in the first place." Spencer said.

"There's one more thing," Hotch said. "The last women was murdered 2 days ago, they're expecting another victim tonight."

**x x x**

"We have no leads..." Hotch said it was the _next _day around 11pm and there was another rape and murder the other night, all they could do was just tell the media and the girls who were being rapped to stay in groups and try not to be outside later in the evening, which seemed to help, for that night anyway. Emily looked at him, she just walked back from getting coffee, she was the only one in the room now. "You can go back to the hotel.." he sounded defeated and upset, he _was _defeated and upset, they've been there for 2 days and hardly had a good enough lead to get a profile of the UnSub, which is what they were there to do. They had _some _stuff, but not enough to give the profile to the media or police. Emily could only imagine what he was feeling, she knew Strauss would be on their asses because of this, well, _his_. And half the police in the department don't want them there.

"What about you?" Emily asked, Hotch glanced at her and then looked back down as he let out a sigh. "You said it yourself, we have no leads... don't stay here... you'll drive yourself crazy finding a lead, we both know it's better when you get at least some sleep." she told him, Hotch sighed.

"I know." he said. "I'm going in a minute."

"I'll wait," she offered, Hotch looked at her. "Why waste the gas?" she said, Hotch sighed inaudibly and nodded, she had a point. She was mainly making sure that he actually was on his way to the hotel in a minute, like he said. And that was part of the reason why he sighed; he was planning on staying for an hour or two longer and Emily knew that.

"I'm just going to go grab my stuff, I'll be out in a minute." he told her, Emily nodded and walked out to the car.

"So much for our talk..." Emily said with a shrug as she drove down to the hotel, Hotch let out a small chuckle.

"I know," he said as he shook his head.

"I totally jinxed it when I was talking to JJ the other day," Emily said with a sigh.

"So it's your fault?" Hotch joked, Emily smiled as she parked the car and they got out, they walked in silence as they passed his hotel room.

"I'll see you tomorrow.." she said as he stopped, Hotch opened the door.

"Do you want to talk? We were supposed to tonight anyway.." he said, Emily looked at him and raised her eyebrows.

"Are you sure you're not just looking for an excuse to get me in your hotel room?" she joked with a smile and a small laugh. Hotch chuckled.

"You got me." he joked, Emily smiled.

"Are you sure you want to talk about this now?" Emily immediately went back to being more serious. "I mean.. we should sleep and we should be focusing more on the case and not what we need to talk about because it may require some focus.." she said.

"Well, we can talk about _some _of it." he said. "Come on, you and I both know that when we get back to Quantico you'll try to pretend like we never talked." Emily sighed.

"Damn," she said. "I guess I would." Emily shrugged, it wasn't something she could help, but she did know that's what would happen. "We'll just talk about Avery right now and when you should be able to see her.." Emily said as she walked in. "_Alone_." she finished with a sigh, Hotch smiled.

"I'm okay with anything that you decide..." he told her. "I'm not expecting to have a set plan, for obvious reasons. But I would like to see her every once in a while with or without your presence wouldn't matter to me."

"Well I think that it'll be good for her to be alone with you to give you two some time to connect, without me there." she explained, Hotch nodded. "And our job will just make it that much harder to figure it all out." Emily said with a sigh.

"I know," he said as he hesitated to put his hand on her shoulder. Emily pushed her lips together when she felt his hand on her back, she let out a small sigh.

"Well," she said with the sigh as looked at him. "I'm fine with giving her to you on Sunday's when we don't have a case.. I would let you take her during the week days, but you work late..."

"I'm fine with Sunday and I do work pretty late, hopefully Dave has someone in mind to replace him that will lighten my work load and maybe I'll get home before 6 every once in a while." he said, Emily laughed and nodded.

"Do you know if he has anyone in mind?" Emily asked.

"If Strauss listens to him, he'll get someone from another unit in the BAU that has more experience. If Strauss makes him get a cadet it'll be double the work because we're still short one."

"Who was here to replace me?" Emily asked curiously, she'd always wondered about that.

"5 cadets and a PA that didn't last long." he answered, Emily nodded.

"Wow, I guess you guys just barely made it without me." Emily said as she pushed her hair behind her shoulders to pretend she was all that, but she was kidding and Hotch could tell, he chuckled and Emily smiled as she looked at him. Hotch looked down at her, she was 7 inches shorter than him. Both of their eyes locked, they weren't even sure _how _or _why_, it just happened. Hotch took a step forward as his phone rang, he took the step back and answered.

"Hotchner." he said as he answered. "We'll be right there." he said as he hung up, Emily looked at him.

"What happened?"

"A young women just showed up at the police department, yelling frantically that a man just tried to rape her." Hotch said as he grabbed his coat, there was the lead they were looking for.

**x x x**

"Well I'm glad that you two talked about _one _thing. Now you just need to talk about your relationship towards each other." JJ said as she broke apart a piece of a sand which and put it in her mouth, Emily gave her a look. "What?" she asked, Emily shook her head.

"Nothing." Emily said as she rolled her eyes. "And we do _not _need to talk about our relationship with one another because it's platonic." she explained. "And not in a _love _kind of way, the _friendship_ kind of way." Emily said. "We can't hate each other, which we don't, but we also can't be..." Emily looked over to make sure Henry and Avery were out of ear shot. "_Involved_ with each other."

"Why not?" JJ asked, Emily looked at her.

"Uh, we work together _and _Avery is our daughter."

"Working together didn't stop you guys last time. And boo fricken who Avery is your daughter, I'm sure she'd welcome a relationship between you two. You're just making up dumb excuses." JJ said as she took another bite of her sandwich, Emily looked at her.

"Things are different now. It can't happen."

"Why?" JJ asked again.

"Because it can't." Emily told her.

"Do you want it to?"


	32. Chapter 32: Saturday Morning Surprises

The Little Things – 32

**Authors Note: Thanks for all the reviews! I hope you liked the last part and I hope you like this part!**

**Sorry it took SO long to update, I was away for the weekend and had some writers block so ideas didn't really flow. The last part wasn't long, so I'll make this one MUCH longer. **

**I hope you like it.**

**Let me know what you think and leave a review, please :]**

"Way to be blunt about it..." Emily said as she took a bite of her sandwich and chewed it slowly before taking a sip of her water, then pausing, looking at it and taking another sip. She was trying to avoid it, JJ crossed her arms.

"Emily." She said sternly, she could tell 100 percent that Emily was trying to weasel her way out of answering the question, Emily looked at her and let out a small sigh as she thought about it, she let out another sigh.

"I wouldn't mind it." Emily said as she shamefully took a sip of her water after realizing it was true, the corner of JJ's mouth turned up as she uncrossed her arms.

"We all have feelings we don't understand nor do we want to. But we have to accept them and take them into consideration. If you keep them bottled up enough, something could happen that _both _of you will regret." JJ told her, Emily let out a sigh and nodded.

"It's harder than you think." Emily said as she let out another sigh. "I wonder what would have happened if I never left..."

"Well, ya did, so get over it." JJ said as she smiled at her and grabbed her plate and cup and put them in the sink.

**x x x**

"Can you believe Rossi's leaving already?" Emily said as she let out a sigh and swung her bag over her shoulder, it was Friday and Dave's last day, none of them really grasped their hands around it. Even though it must have been hard for him to decide to leave, but Strauss has been pushing it for years, and the main reason why he didn't want to leave was because he couldn't come back this time.

"I know." Spencer said as he put his bag over his shoulder. "I'll see you later." he said before leave, Emily smiled to herself as she walked over to Hotch's office and knocked on the door before walking in, Emily smiled.

"You're actually leaving early for once." she noted as she saw him adjusting his coat on his back and picking up his breif case, Hotch nodded.

"I have to pick up the food and everything for Dave's party." he said with a shrug.

"And Jack's picking Henry and Avery up at daycare tonight, right?" she asked, Hotch nodded.

"Yeah, I told him around 4 or 5 would be fine, he might have even picked them up already, I just have to give this to Strauss, then I'll call him to check in."

"Do you want me to come with you to get food? I mean, we're filling the mouths of 7 people, 4 of which are guys and eat for two. That's a lot to carry." she said, Hotch thought for a moment, then nodded.

"I'm going to the market down the street, it'll be easier. I'll meet you there if you want so we can take our own cars back and you can start shopping."

"Do you have a list?" Emily asked, Hotch just remembered as he grabbed it from his desk.

"Garcia wrote it up." he said, Emily looked down at the pink stationary paper with the neat, totally girly, handwriting on it, Emily smiled and laughed slightly.

"Thanks, I'll see you down there." she said as she walked out and down to her car.

**x x x**

"After seeing all this raw meat, I think I'm gonna be a vegetarian. It's cheaper, too." Emily said as they loaded all the bags into the car, they were having a barbeque at Dave's, so there were chicken legs, wings and breasts. And hamburgers and steak, you'd think they're cooking for 20 people. The bill was pretty expensive, but everyone put 20 bucks in, besides Dave. He wanted to buy the whole thing and give Hotch his credit card, but no one would let him. Hotch chuckled as he put the last bag that would fit in his trunk.

"You mind taking the rest of the bags?" he asked, Emily shook her head.

"Not at all. I'll see you in a half hour, I'm gonna stop by my house first." she said, Hotch nodded.

"And Emily?" he said, Emily looked over as she dropped the bag in her back seat. "Thanks for helping me out, it would have taken a lot longer."

"No problem. See you later." Emily said with a smile as she got in the car.

Emily got there about a half hour later and Penelope opened the door after she knocked. They were allowed to leave a half hour earlier than normal, so 4:30. Strauss only cleared it because it was Dave's party. Which she had something to do coincidentally so she wasn't able to make it.

"Hey Emily! You are the first of our beautiful guests to show up!" Penelope said with a smile. "Whatcha got there?" she didn't hesitate to ask as she pulled away, Emily smiled.

"Potato salad, salsa, chips, guacamole and the dip thing with the vegetables.." Emily told her as Penelope grabbed the bags and put them in the kitchen. "Hotch is bringing all the meat by.. I thought he would be here by now though." she said.

"Hotch called and said he stopped by his house, so he should be here any minute."

"Where's Dave?" Emily asked as she looked around.

"Getting the grill ready." Penelope answered as she opened the chip bags and put them each in different bowls and then did the same with the salsa.

"And Morgan?" Emily asked, then she kicked herself for not calling him 'Derek' because they're not on the job, it's just a force of habit she gets used to.

"He's helping Rossi." Penelope said, Emily raised her eyebrows as if to say _does he really need help starting a grill_? "He kept eating everything." Penelope answered, Emily nodded.

"Right," she said as she took a chip and put some guacamole on it and took a bite, Penelope glared at her as Emily chewed, Emily smiled and picked up a chip and put some guacamole on it and put it near Penelope's mouth. "It's wonderfully delicious..." Emily said with a smile, Penelope rolled her eyes and took a bite of it.

"That it pretty good." she said as she grabbed the rest of the chip that was in Emily's hand and put some more guacamole on it. "Alright, no more eating it!" she said, mainly for herself, Emily laughed.

"We need some music, I'm surprised you haven't put any on yet." Emily said as she walked over to the stereo that was in the living room to put some on.

"Thanks," Penelope said as Emily walked back in and smiled at the music that was playing.

"Now. What do you need help with?" Emily asked.

"Rossi told me there were some whine glasses on that top cabinet. I was thinking of setting up a wine and alcohol section where we can just help ourselves, there's a table with a table cloth over it in the living room." Penelope said, Emily nodded as she grabbed the wine glasses and set them up, Dave's house was big, and really open. The most suitable place for a party, which is why Derek wanted to have a party there. "Can you get that?" Penelope called, just barely over the music. Emily nodded and walked over to the door and opened it.

"Hey Aaron..." Emily said, Hotch cleared his throat and looked at her.

"Hey Emily," he said.

"Want me to grab those?" She asked as she looked at the two bags in his hands, he nodded and handed them to her. "I'll get Derek to come out and help you with those..." Emily said, he nodded as he walked away and Emily walked out to where Dave and Derek where, both stepping back from the fire once it went high. "Derek," she said, Derek and Dave both looked at her. "Hotch needs help with some bags." she said with a smile, Derek nodded and walked towards her, putting a hand on her back as he passed her as a 'hello', Emily smiled and looked at Dave.

"So nice of you to stop by and let me know you were here." Dave said with a smile, Emily laughed.

"I got caught up." she said, Dave raised his eyebrows. "Helping Penelope," she explained, Dave nodded.

"I get it, girl talk." he said with a nod.

"I see you're having fun with your new grill." Emily said with a smile, they all pitched in to get him the grill, Derek brought it by when he came over, Dave nodded.

"I'm still angry you didn't let me at least pay for the groceries." he said, Emily laughed.

"Yeah, right. This is _our _party to _you._" Emily said, Dave chuckled.

"Really, because it seems like you guys found an excuse to trash my house." Dave said, Emily laughed.

"You got us." she said as she smiled at him and stepped back inside as Derek was walking in with some bags to bring out, Emily smiled at him and walked back over to Penelope.

"Hey." Penelope said with a smile as she finished cutting up the carrots and putting them on the plate, moving onto the celery.

"Hey.." Emily said as she walked over and grabbed some peppers and started cutting them. "Hotch's here." she said, Penelope nodded.

"Really?" Penelope asked in a shocked voice as she looked at Hotch walking back from putting the bags out in the back, Emily rolled her eyes. "Hey Hotch!" Penelope called, Hotch smiled at them and looked at Penelope, then Emily for a brief moment before walking back out to the car to shut the trunk. "You'd better button that up," Penelope said as she put more celery on the plate, Emily looked down at her blouse that had the first two buttons unbuttoned. "His eyes like to wonder." she mentioned, Emily's eyes widened as she put the peppers on the plate and buttoned the button quickly.

"That's probably JJ," Penelope said once the door bell rang and they wanted back in the house after putting the foot out on the table, which the boys attacked immediately. "Or Reid." she added.

"I'll get it." Emily said as she walked towards the door as Penelope went to get the rest of the stuff outside. Emily opened the door and saw JJ there.

"Hey Em!" she exclaimed as she gave her a hug. "I brought the salad with apples and candied walnuts.. and Spence is right behind me." she said, Emily nodded.

"You can put the salad in the fridge," Emily said, JJ nodded and walked to the kitchen. "Hey Spencer." she said with a smile as he walked up.

"Hey Emily." Spencer said as he walked in.

"Everyone's in the back."

**x x x**

"Come on, man," Derek said as he sat down with his plate full with every food that was there, _even _the salad, and he would even go back for seconds. "You didn't bring anyone in to train, and I _know _you're not making us train someone, so who is it?"

"I told you," Dave said as he closed the top of the grill and shut it out. "They don't need training. They are trained." Dave said.

"That makes no sense," Emily said.

"Everyone needs to be trained for the BAU, even if they're in different sections of the BAU." Derek mentioned, everyone nodded in agreement. "Just tell us who it is."

"Well," Dave said with a sigh. "It's not my decision to tell you who it is now," Dave told them, everyone raised there eyebrows.

"Whose decision is it?" Derek asked, Dave glanced over at JJ, who smiled as she took a bite of her salad, everyone looked over at her.

"JJ?" Derek asked with his eyebrows raised.

"Yeah?" she asked with a smile as she looked up.

"You're the one whose coming?" Derek asked, JJ smiled and laughed as she took another bite.

"Jayje, why didn't you tell us?" Emily exclaimed.

"I wasn't completely sure to begin with, ya know." JJ answered. "I mean, I needed to find someone to watch Henry, _and _sometimes Avery.. I couldn't just say 'yes' because _I _really wanted to. I couldn't be selfish."

"That's great, JJ." Emily said with a smile, she was wondering who she had gotten to watch Avery and Henry, but she knew that JJ wouldn't pick anyone she wouldn't trust and she didn't want to ask in front of everyone.

"You made a great choice, Dave." Hotch said with a smile.

"When do you start?" Derek asked.

"Not til next Monday, you think you can handle being without me for a week?" JJ asked.

"I don't know, past few years have been really tricky." Derek said sarcastically.

"Hey, it really has been." Hotch spoke up. "I'm the one that's been doing all the work." he mentioned, everyone laughed.

They spend the rest of the time eating, laughing and having a good time. Emily, JJ and Hotch ended up leaving around 10:30 because Avery and Henry were over Hotch's with Jack and they didn't want them to be up too late, Penelope and Derek stayed a while after.

"God, I wonder what they're actually doing now," Emily said as she walked into Hotch's house, Hotch put his keys down and chuckled.

"I don't think I wanna know." he said as they walked into the living room.

"Me either." JJ laughed as they saw Jack, Henry and Avery all sitting around the coffee table, they looked up at Hotch, Emily and JJ as they walked in. "Uh-oh." JJ exclaimed as she looked at Hotch and Emily. "They look suspicious," JJ said, Emily and Hotch smirked.

"Should we be worried?" Hotch asked.

"No!" Avery and Henry exclaimed as they stood up.

"Thanks Jack! See you soon!" Avery said as she gave him a hug, Jack smiled.

"Bye Jack!" Henry said as he went over to give him a hug too.

"Don't forget." Jack told them, they both nodded.

"We wont!" Henry said as he walked over to JJ. "Can we go now mom?" he asked, JJ laughed.

"Well, okay." she said with a shrug. "See you guys later." she said as she smiled at Hotch and Emily. "Bye Avery, see you Monday." she said with a smile.

"Bye JJ!" Avery said as she gave her a quick hug before she left. "Bye daddy!" she said as she gave Hotch a hug, he smiled at her and hugged her back. "See you..." she paused and looked over at Jack, then back to him. "Sunday." she said, Hotch nodded.

"Bye Avery." he said with a smile and a nod, Avery smiled and walked towards the door.

"Lessgo mommy!"

"Bye Aaron," Emily said with a smile, Hotch smiled.

"Bye Emily." he said as he put his hand on her shoulder as she walked out. Emily let out a breath as she made it out of the door and Hotch shut the door behind her.

"Ready sweetie?"

Jack raised his eyebrows at Hotch as he walked back in.

"What..?" he hesitated to ask.

"Why didn't you just hug her?" Jack asked, Hotch gave him a look.

"What are you talking about, Jack? That's how I say goodbye to people." he answered as he loosened his tie, Jack nodded as he got up.

"Yeah 'B_ye Emily_'," he said in a deeper voice. "And then awkwardly touch her back as she walks out? That's _not _how you say 'goodbye' to people." Jack said as he walked away before Hotch had the time to retaliate, Hotch thought.

"That is how I say 'goodbye' to people..." he said. "Isn't it?"

**x x x**

"Avery, where are you making me drive?" Emily asked as she followed her daughters directions to the unknown destination. If it were up to Emily, she wouldn't even be driving at 10am on a Saturday, she'd be in her pajamas, drinking some coffee and watching morning cartoons with her.

"Shh! We're almost there! Make a right here." Avery told her as she looked down at her cellphone, Emily let out a small groan as she put her blinker on and turned right onto a side road.

**x x x**

"I am not going to drive around aimlessly." JJ told Henry, who was sitting in the passengers seat, Henry looked up from his cellphone.

"Turn left." he told her, JJ looked at him. "Turn left." he said with a light wine, JJ glared at him.

"If you're taking us to the middle of no where, I will ground you." she warned, it was half a joke because she knew Henry wouldn't do that, maybe he would take them somewhere weird, like a robot convention, but not to the middle of no where. Henry looked up at his mom.

"Chill," he told her with a relaxed voice, then he added. "And turn right."

**x x x**

"Where are we going? This isn't the golf range..." Hotch mentioned as he looked out the window, he didn't like going places when Jack was driving. It wasn't that he didn't want Jack to drive, it was just him having to be in control. Which was why he was such a good team leader.

"I know." Jack said with a shrug as he turned left, Hotch raised his eyebrows as he looked at him, Jack smiled at him before focusing on the road.

"Where are we going?" he asked him.

"You'll see." Jack said as he turned right.


	33. Chapter 33: Shoot Away

The Little Things – 33

**Authors Note: I hope you like this fun part! PLEASE REVIEW!**

"Avery, did you seriously take me to a laser tag place?" Emily asked as she parked the car and looked at the building, Avery smiled and nodded with an 'mhm!', Emily looked back at Avery and raised her eyebrows as Avery got out of the car. Emily unbuckled her seat belt and grabbed her cellphone and car keys as she got out. "Avery what-" she began to say as she saw JJ's car pull in.

"This is a surprise." JJ said as she took her sunglasses off and turned the car off as she got out. "Avery trick you here, too?"

"Yeah, I guess I see why now." Emily said as she walked over to JJ as she watched Avery walk over to Henry. "I guess they really wanted to go laser tagging..." Emily said with a shrug, JJ nodded.

"I guess so." she said as she looked over at the car who was pulling in. JJ squinted her eyes. "Is that _Jack_ and _Hotch_?"JJ asked, Henry and Avery looked back at Emily and JJ.

"Surprise!" they said in unison with a smile on their faces.

"We wanted to surprise everyone," Avery explained.

"Yeah, and we really wanted to go laser tagging!" Henry said with a big smile.

"Wow," Emily said with a smile. "That's a big surprise, but are you sure they'll be able to take us all? there's 6 of us.." she said, Henry nodded.

"Jack already called ahead of time and asked if we could reserve it just for us." Avery said, Emily nodded as she looked at JJ, who shrugged and shook her head.

"Good job getting them here," Jack said as he got out of the car. Avery and Henry walked over to him.

"Good job getting your dad here, we all know how stubborn he is..." Henry said, mumbling the last part, they laughed as Hotch got out fof the car.

"I am not _that _stubborn." he said, the three of them looked at each other and laughed Hotch walked over to JJ and Emily. "Smart kids." he said, they nodded. "So what are we doing here exactly?" he asked.

"LASER TAG!" Henry, Avery and Jack said, Avery added "Duh," at the end, Hotch looked at them.

"Well I got that, but why didn't you just tell us you wanted to go laser tagging?" he asked them, They all exchanged looks.

"We wanted it to be a surprise." Avery told them.

"Let's go in! We're wasting precious time!" Henry exclaimed as he headed for the door, Emily laughed and looked at JJ, who smiled and put her hands up.

"_That's _my son..." she said as she followed Henry, Avery and Jack into the building, Emily and Hotch followed close behind.

"ALRIGHT!" Henry said loudly as he jumped, JJ gave him a weirded out look, it seemed like he had a bucket of sugar this morning for breakfast, but in fact, he had none. Which freaked her out a little bit because he was just so naturally hyper. "We need to pick teams." he said. "I'm not on my moms team." he said JJ gave him a look.

"Good, that's even better for me. Now I can shoot you without actually hurting you." she said, Henry glared at her and JJ gave him a smile. :Ill be with Em." she offered.

"I'll go with Emily and JJ." Jack spoke up.

"Is that okay with everyone?" Hotch asked, just to make sure, Everyone nodded.

"We get to play 2 games, so we can switch the teams up next time anyway." Jack reminded them.

"Alright, you three are so going down then." Emily said with a smirk as they followed the instructors to their separate sides, Henry and Avery were both giving Jack, JJ and Emily the 'I'm watching you look'.

"I look ridiculous." JJ said as she looked at herself with the black glow in the dark vest they had on where the lights were blue because they were the blue team, Hotch's team was the red team. The vests were sort of bulky, and different from wearing the FBI vests they wear in the field.

"We all look ridiculous," Emily said with a small laugh. "Hey, Jack, have you done a lot of laser tag before?" she asked him, this was the _first _time she has ever done laser tag.

"Yeah.. I come here with my friends all the time, that's how I got the idea to do this in the first place." he answered, Emily nodded.

"Does your dad know your good?" JJ asked, Jack shook his head.

"He hardly knows I come here, it doesn't come up in conversation." he said with a shrug, JJ looked at Emily, then they looked back at Jack.

"You're our secret weapon." JJ said with an evil smirk.

"What do you mean?"

"We'll tell you who to aim for and you go for it." JJ explained, he nodded.

"Alright." he said as the doors opened and they walked in.

"This is so cool!" Avery exclaimed as she looked at her suit that had red lights and she grabbed the laser gun, Henry was too busy doing karate chops while in the suit, he was saying the 'hiya's and all. "What color are they again?"

"Blue!" Henry said as he jumped up and over to them. "I'm gonna shoot my mom!" he said with a smile, he loved the idea of being able to hit his mom with laser tags, Hotch raised his eyebrows as Avery looked at him.

"Can I hit mom too?" she asked with a smile, Hotch chuckled.

"Avery this is the one time I say it's okay to shoot your mom." he said with a chuckle. "But be careful you too, they've been through the gun training course. They'll hit you just about every time." Hotch warned them. "So make sure you stay behind anything you can." Hotch told them, they both nodded as the door s opened.

"Get ready to kick some butt!" Henry exclaimed as they walked out. The women over the loud speaker explained the rules and what everything on the LCD screen was. There was how much Energy the person had, the rank they were in; which was whatever number out of 6, how much ammo they have, how many lives they had left and how many points they had. They have 100 lives to begin with and 500 ammo. When the women finished explaining everything, the lights went off, the music started playing, and green, yellow, blue and red lights started flashing.

"DIE, DIE, DIE!" Henry screamed as he ran around shooting, Jack was off trying to shoot whoever he wanted at the time, JJ and Emily were waiting for them to come to them. Emily looked at JJ.

"That would be Henry.." she said with a small laugh as she looked out from behind the wall they were both behind, then back to Emily. "Watch this." she said as she looked again, aimed and fired a few times.

"WHO DID THAT?" Henry exclaimed as he saw his life go from 40 to 32 all of a sudden, JJ laughed and so did Emily, Jack then took to opportunity to hit Henry a few more times, causing him to drop to his knees. "I'm almost dead!" he exclaimed.

"He's such a drama queen." JJ scoffed.

"GOTCHA!" They heard Avery say as she jumped behind the wall and shot at them.

"Oh man!" Emily exclaimed at she and JJ both shot at Avery as they ran away.

"How many lives do you have left?" JJ asked as they hid behind another wall.

"89," Emily answered "You?"

"82." JJ answered with a sigh.

"I'm at rank number 3, though, What about you?"

"4." JJ answered. "Wanna split up?" she asked.

"We're never supposed to split up from our partner, JJ." she said, imitating Hotch after the time when she split up with Reid and got hit in the back of the head with a block and almost got her blood sucked out of her. JJ laughed.

"Hotch is over there." she said as she pointed. "I'll take the right and you take the left?" she asked, Emily nodded as they put their plan to work. "Hey Hotch!" JJ sang as she walked over behind the wall, Hotch immediately aimed for her as Emily came around the other side and held the trigger down so it would keep shooting, Hotch turned around and shot as Emily his behind the wall and JJ hit him a few more times before taking off with Emily.

"That was not fair!" Hotch screamed as he hid behind the wall.

"Heh heh!" JJ said as she stuck her tongue out and looked at Emily. "Good job chica." she said as she gave Emily a 'pound it'.

"GOT YA!" Henry said as he ran over and shot the two of them while running past them, he laughed as he turned and ran straight into the wall. "OW! MOMMY!" he screamed, Emily raised her eyebrows at JJ, who let out a sigh.

"I swear if that rat trick me I'll make him wish he never did." she said as she walked over to Henry, Emily laughed as she turned her head the other way and saw Avery running over and shooting at her, she raised the laser gun up and shot her, she screamed and hid immediately.

"Mom! You almost drained my life!" Henry said as he ran the other way, past Emily. "Bitch." Emily heard him mumble as he ran by.

"Ooh, hoo, hoo. What did you do?" Emily asked.

"I told him to get up, then he shot at me, so I shot at him." JJ said with a shrug.

"Well you got him pretty pissed. He called you a bitch." Emily said, JJ rolled her eyes.

"If he says it to my face I'll beat him." JJ said, Emily raised his eyebrows. "12 year old boys are a pain in the ass, especially Henry." she said with a groan, Emily laughed.

"Avery got me when I wasn't paying attention." Emily said with a shrug, JJ laughed.

"The things they do when ya turn your back." JJ said as she shook her head. The lights came on shortly after. Of course Hotch won the game, followed by Emily, JJ, Jack, Avery and then Henry, but because of the teams, Emily, JJ and Jack won the game because of all their scores combined. They played another round, that time it was JJ, Hotch and Henry against JJ, Emily, Jack and Avery. The end scores were Emily with the highest, then Hotch, Jack, JJ, Henry, and Avery. So they called that one a tie because of how close it was.

After that they went to get some lunch around 2, then they went to the park, then they went to an arcade because Henry begged them too, and then the got ice cream and parted their ways after saying their goodbyes.

"Ave, hurry up and get your stuff packed!" Emily called as Avery ran up the stairs to do that, Avery asked if she could stay over her dad's house, but she had no clothes, and it was only 7:30, so they went back to Emily's house to grab some stuff. Emily let out a sigh and looked at her cellphone, she was shocked to see there was a voice mail because she didn't hear it ring. She shrugged and put the phone to her ear. The voice mail said 'you have one new message', Emily nodded and rolled her eyes, she gets sick of hearing that all the time. _Just give me the god damn message_. She always thought.

"Emily." Emily's eyes widened slightly when she heard the stern voice on the phone. "This is your mother, I'm just letting you know that I am actually in town for a few days and I am staying at the Hampton Inn not to far away. It's been a while since we've talked. I would like to see you before I leave. Call me when you get this." her voice sounded so rehearsed and stern, just like she remembered it. She didn't have much time to react because Avery came down the stairs.

"Ready mom!" Avery said with a smile, Emily slightly jumped as she put the phone back in her pocket and turned towards Avery.

"Really? That fast? Did you get everything? Tooth brush, hair brush, underwear?" Emily asked, Avery groaned.

"Yes, mom. I'm not a baby." Avery said as she rolled her eyes and walked towards the door, Emily scratched the back of her neck.

"I'm not a baby." she mimicked in a winy voice as she rolled her eyes and followed her out.

**x x x**

"Today was pretty fun..." Emily admitted as she sat down at the table in Hotch's kitchen, Hotch chuckled as he handed her a beer.

"It was pretty fun." he said with a smile, Emily smiled as she took a sip of it.

"You know, I don't even think I thought about work once... " Emily gushed. "Is that bad that I have to be doing something totally childish to forget about it?"

"Not at all," Hotch chuckled. "I didn't think about work, either.. that was until I got into the car and Jack started driving. He's a good driver, but I don't like when he drives."

"Like you hate when Morgan drives?" Emily asked with a small laugh, Hotch chuckled.

"Yes, but last time I checked, you don't like when Morgan drives either." Hotch said, Emily nodded as she took another sip.

"You got that right, that's why I always drive when I'm with him, you don't know _how _many arguments we've gotten in because he's such a baby." Emily said as she rolled her eyes and took another sip, Hotch chuckled as he took a sip of beer himself. "So how long have you known about JJ joining the BAU again?"

"I found out yesterday with you guys..." Emily laughed.

"Yeah right. You and Spencer were the only quiet ones, and Spencer was just completely shocked because JJ actually didn't tell him and you definitely knew." Emily said, then she gasped. "That's why you were so smiley and happy Thursday, I thought you just had gas or something."

"Gas?" Hotch asked with his eyebrows raised.

"Babies smile when they have gas, don't you remember Henry and Morgan? Henry had _major_gas." she said, Hotch gave her a weird look.

"Grown men don't smile when they have gas." he said, Emily nodded.

"And you would know." she said as she took a sip of beer.

"Can we talk about something else now?" Hotch asked, Emily laughed and nodded.

"You're pick." she said as she took a sip of her beer. Hotch smiled.

"I would have won the second time if you didn't turn my own son against me, I didn't know he was _that _good." Hotch said, Emily scoffed.

"Oh please, I would have won either way." Emily said. "And if you wanna play it that way _I _would have won if you didn't tell Avery to 'shoot away', do you know how many times I saw her aiming for my head?" Emily said, Hotch chuckled.

"Hey, I didn't tell her to aim for your head." Hotch said, Emily laughed.

"Sure." Emily said as she rolled her eyes and took a sip of beer, she let out a sigh as she put the can down on the table. "I think this has been one of the funnest day that turned out to be shockingly relaxing that I've had in years." Hotch raised his eyebrows.

"When was the last time you've taken a vacation?" Emily looked at him.

"When was the last time _you _took a vacation?" she asked, Hotch raised his eyebrows.

"It was just a question."

"Mine was a question, too. Now spill." she said. "I sound like Garcia.." she thought out loud. "I think she's rubbing off on me..."

"I was going to buy purple straws the other day... I think she's rubbing off on everyone, Reid had a pink shirt on under his vest once."

"You know what they say about guys who wear pink." Emily said, Hotch raised his eyebrows. "They're tough, you know, macho!" she said as she flexed her muscles, Hotch laughed.

"Uh, dad..." Jack said as he walked over to the kitchen, Hotch and Emily both looked up at him. "Avery wants to talk to you." he said, Hotch looked over at Emily, then back at Jack.

"I'll be right back..." Hotch said, he hesitated to see if Emily would cut in, but she didn't, Hotch got up and walked upstairs, Jack looked behind him to make sure Hotch was gone.

"Emily..." he said as he looked at her, Emily looked at him.

"Yeah?"

"Can I talk to you about something.. well, a few things actually..." Jack hesitated to say as he scratched the back of his neck and stepped closer.

"Yeah, sure Jack." Emily said as she sat up, Jack sat down across from her. "What's it about?" she asked.

"It's about you and my dad..."


	34. Chapter 34: No longer Avoidable

The Little Things – 34

**Authors Note: Thanks for all the reviews.**

**I am SO sorry for the long wait. I got writers block AND I have a big project every year in April for school, so I've been busy with that. But I just took a break from it, so until it's over and I'm back from a trip I take in school(April 29) it might take me a few days to update at a time.**

**I'll try my best not to make you wait THIS long because that's not fair!**

**PLEASE PLEASE review!**

Emily looked at Jack, she wasn't even sure she heard him correctly, _and Hotch and I? What the hell is he talking about? _She looked at him, he had a stern look on his face that reminded her so much of his father, she let out a breath.

"What about your father and I?" she asked to play it off.

"I understand now that you were obviously in a relationship when I was younger..." he began to explain, taking a breath, Emily nervously bit the inside of her lip. "And I have to be honest with you, I like you more than I liked my mother at the time. I know now that everything she did she did to protect me, even divorcing my dad and when she was killed. But she also never showed her love for me like I remember you did... I thought of you as my mom after she passed away. And I think the main reason was because I thought you _were _my new mom, but I realize now I thought that because I've never seen my dad as happy as he is when he's with you." he explained, Emily gulped. "Do you understand what I'm saying?" he asked, Emily looked at him, she did understand completely what she was saying, she didn't say anything, thought. She starred into space as her never ending thoughts whipped through her mind. "I knew something was different a few months ago..." he continued when he saw her starring off, Emily looked at him. "That's why I wasn't surprised when you were at the house for dinner that night. He's happier now.. and I know I'm only 16, but I understand those kind of changes and what they mean." he wasn't even sure how to get it out. Then he just decided to say it. "He's happier when you two are together, and I don't want him to feel that's possible if you're not on the same page as him." Emily was shocked at his assertiveness, so was Jack. "Are you on the same page as him?" he asked, Emily bit her lip. "Emily." He said, Emily looked up and let out a sigh before opening her mouth.

**x x x**

"Wow..." JJ said after Emily finished explaining to her the conversation her and Jack had a few days ago, Emily nodded. "I mean..." JJ tried to find something else to say. "He is so right," she laughed, Emily looked at her. "What did you tell him?" she asked, Emily sighed.

"I told him I needed some time to think..." she replied, JJ raised her eyebrows.

"And he said?"

"That I've done enough to him already and that I shouldn't take as long as I took to tell him about Avery." she said, JJ nodded.

"He's right, even if it was hurtful, Em. You need to just do it. You told _me_ how you felt a few days ago. You need to tell him. Flat out. No matter how awkward it is or how much you don't want to." she said, Emily sighed and nodded.

"I know." she said, JJ smiled.

"I have to go pick Henry up from dance..." JJ said as she got up.

"Oh, how's that working out?" Emily asked, Henry convinced JJ to let him take hip hop and this was his third class, JJ laughed.

"He's been dancing like crazy, most of which he didn't even learn and are ridiculous... but he taught Avery some moves, she didn't tell you?" Emily shook her head.

"No.." Emily said with a shrug. "But come to think of it, she hasn't been telling me a lot lately..." Emily thought out loud, JJ looked at her.

"And I guess that's my cue to leave.." she said, Emily smiled at her and stood up. "See you tomorrow." JJ said as they gave each other a quick hug, Emily let out a groan when JJ walked towards the door.

"Why is this happening?" she wined as she trudged up the stairs. "Hey Ave," Emily said as she knocked on the door and opened it the rest of the way. Avery looked up and put a notebook down.

"Yeah, mom?" she asked. "I'm just doing homework.."

"Can I talk to you for a few minutes?" she asked as she walked in, Avery nodded and Emily walked over to her and sat on the edge of the bed.

"What's up?" Avery asked as she moved her legs to give Emily more room.

"I just wanted to talk, is there anything you want to talk to me about?" Emily asked, Avery looked at her and slowly shook her head 'no', unsure of why she was asking. "All right, well I was wondering because lately you haven't been talking to me about much lately.. you had a spelling test this week, how did you do?" Emily asked, Avery shrugged.

"I got a hundred." she said.

"Wow, Avery, that's great! Why didn't you tell me? We could have celebrated with ice cream..." Emily said, Avery shrugged.

"I didn't feel like it was that important. I get good scores a lot mom. Believe it or not, ice cream gets old." she said, Emily's eyes widened. _Ice cream gets old? _Emily wondered, Ice cream even motivates her.

"What do you mean, sweetie?"

"That, mom. You baby me. I don't need ice cream every time I get a fricken time I get a hundred!" she exclaimed as she got up and crossed her arms, Emily let out a sigh.

"Where is this coming from Avery?" she asked, Avery was quite. "Avery..."

"Why didn't you stay with my dad? Why did you have to leave? He's a great dad and I don't know why you left! Why aren't you with him? He's a caring person and all he ever does is care for you and me, how could you be so selfish?" she said as she walked out of the room, Emily's eyes widened as she followed her downstairs.

"Avery.." she said as she walked down the stairs and saw her sitting on the couch with her head in her hands. "Avery.." Emily said as she sat down in the chair, Avery didn't move and she let out a sigh. "I know that you're upset about this whole situation, but you're right. I was selfish. I regret not staying with your father every day of my life, or at least letting him see you grow up. He loves and cares for you, and so do I. And no matter what I have done, Avery, that will never change." Emily said, Avery took a breath as she cried. Emily put her hand on Avery's shoulder and Avery picked her head up.

"I'm sorry mommy.. I just love you guys so much and I hate not seeing him all the time and not seeing you when I'm there." she said as she cried and got up, giving Emily a hug and crying into her shoulder, Emily felt her eyes burn as she rubbed her hair.

"I know sweetie, I know.." Emily said as she rubbed her hair, she let out a small sigh. It was killing her to see Avery cry like that, especially when it was her fault.

**x x x**

"Hey, Hotch..." Emily said quickly as she walked over to him the next day at work, Hotch looked up at her with a file in his hands. "Can I talk to you for a minute?" she asked.

"I'm about to get everyone together to present a case..." he told her, Emily nodded. "We can talk after if you'd like.." he hesitated to continue, she seemed so eager to talk, he wondered what about.

"Yeah," she sounded breathless, she then gave him a half smile. "Want me to let everyone know?"

"That would be great." he replied, Emily nodded as she walked away. _Why do these fucking cases get in the way of everything? _Emily told everyone to go to the conference room where Hotch explained the case, which consisted of 3 brunette women between the ages of 31 and 34. He finished explaining the case then everyone pitched in their ideas before they all left to get ready to go on the jet. "Emily," he said as they both walked out, Emily looked at him, she was caught of guard even though he said they could talk afterwords, she was now focused on the case.

"Yeah?" she asked.

"Did you want to talk?" he asked, Emily thought.

"Yeah... but It can wait until after.." she said, Hotch squinted his eyebrows.

"Are you sure?" he asked, Emily nodded.

"Yeah, I'm sure." she smiled, Hotch nodded.

"I'll see you on the plane." he said before walking away, Emily let out a sigh and groaned. Knowing he could tell she wanted to talk so bad, and if they didn't have the case she totally would.

**x x x**

Luckily for Emily, the case was over in a day and a half. The unsub messed up after they gave the profile out and he left his finger prints all over the victims body. Although, on the way back home on the jet she wished it lasted a tad bit longer just so she could put her thoughts together, when they got off the plane Hotch asked her to stop by his office, which she did. Her mind was racing with what she could possibly say.

"Is it okay with you if we talk here?" Hotch asked, Emily nodded.

"Yeah, I have to get home to get Avery soon anyway," she said, it was 12pm and a Friday, she still didn't want Avery up that late.

"What did you want to talk about?" he asked, Emily looked at him with a confused look, she momentarily forgot what he was talking about.

"Oh, yeah.." she said.

"Is everything okay?" he asked her, Emily looked at him.

"Yeah, everything's fine." Emily answered. "I just wanted to talk about a few things that I've been trying to avoid, but I just can't avoid it anymore.." she said, Hotch nodded. Emily drew in a breath and let it out. "Alright..." she said as she let the rest of the breath out. _This is it Em... _

**Sorry it's so short. I had to end it like this because I wanted the suspense and It would have taken me a lot long to update if I continued. Please review!**


	35. Chapter 35: The Little Things

The Little Things – 35

**Authors Note: Thanks for all the reviews and baring with me.**

**I'm just letting you know that this part is the last one...**

**I know it's abrupt and I'm sorry for that, but I felt it should come to an end!**

**Thanks so much for all the support throughout this story! **

**Here is the last part and I hope you enjoy it!**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**

"Well.." Emily said as she drew out a breath. "I spoke to Jack the other day about something... well, JJ and I have actually been talking about for a while now and the other night Avery said something about it.." she began to say, this was a touchy and awkward subject to talk about, and she always rambled in a situation like this, no matter what. "Uh.." she thought about how to explain it. "When I left... it was because I was confused.. not because you did anything wrong." she said as she looked at him, he looked at her, waiting to see what she was going to say next. Emily took a deep breath. "I never stopped loving you.." she said as she looked down at her hands. Hotch's eyes widened, he wasn't expecting to hear her say that, especially now. Emily's characteristics wouldn't call for it; a strong-willed head strong women. He's seen her push peoples buttons, laugh her ass off, and even completely break down. But he never thought he would hear her say this.

"Emily..." was all he thought to say. "I don't know what to say..." he searched for an answer, _how _to respond. _What _to say, _what _to do.

"I don't expect you to tell me the same thing, too, because if I were in your position I would want nothing to do with me and I don't know why you-"

"_Emily_." Hotch stressed for the second time as he put his hand on her shoulder, Emily stopped her ramble and looked at him. "I would never want nothing to do with you and I'm glad you came back Emily..." he told her, Emily nodded and looked down. "And yes, Emily, I do feel the same way..." he said. "I always have." Emily looked up at him.

"Really?" she asked, completely shocked of what she was hearing.

"Yes," Hotch said with a small laugh. "You couldn't tell?" he asked, Emily looked away.

"Some profiler I am, huh?" she said, Hotch chuckled as she sniffed in.

"Why are you crying, Em?" he asked as he rubbed her back, Emily laughed.

"I don't know." she said as she whipped the tears. "Because I should have told you earlier... like JJ said.. all it took was Avery to completely break down and Jack to talk to me."

"What did he say exactly?" Hotch asked, Emily shrugged.

"He basically just wanted to make sure you and I were on the same page as each other... relationship wise..." Emily said. "And then Avery was crying because she couldn't see you every day, but then if she saw you every day she couldn't see me, so.. I knew I couldn't be selfish anymore and I had to at least tell you. And I'm not even sure if anything will come from this, but I-"

"Emily." Hotch said, she looked up at him. "You're rambling again.." he told her.

"Sorry." she said, Hotch smiled.

"I missed that..." he said, Emily smiled at him and he looked back, he grabbed the back of her neck lightly and moved closer to her. His thumb rubbed the back of her neck, he wanted to do this since she left and even more so when she came back. He couldn't help wanting to kiss her, he didn't ask. He would risk the consequences after they parted their lips. Then he felt it, something he felt 10 years ago, Emily's soft lips pressed against his. It was soft, and didn't last long, but he didn't care. Emily looked at him, Hotch waited like Jack used to for a punishment, suddenly he felt like an embarrassed child.

"Wow..." Emily said as she licked her lips, still tasting Hotch's lips.

"Emily, I.." he began to say, Emily looked up at him and shook her head as she went in for another kiss.

**x x x**

"Did something happen?" JJ asked as she raised her eyebrows at Emily, who fell backwards onto her couch with a loud sigh, JJ was wearing her pajamas and she had a mug in her hand filled with tea. Emily nodded.

"Yeah, but I think I need to sleep on it." Emily said as she turned on her side, JJ raised her eyebrows.

"Wanna spend the night?" she asked.

"Please?" Emily asked, JJ laughed and nodded.

"Of course." JJ said. "I'll get you a blanket and some pillows." JJ said as she walked away, she had a little idea of what was going on.

**x x x**

"Mom?" Emily heard as her eyes opened, she saw Avery looking at her with her face really close to hers, Emily backed her head up and Avery giggled.

"Shh." Emily told her. "What are you doing up? It's early." she said, it was only 8am and she wasn't sure why Avery was up this early, usually on weekends she sleeps until about 9 or 10.

"I wanted to get some water, but then I saw you here." Avery said, Emily smiled and opened her arms.

"Lay with me." Emily told her, Avery smiled and nodded as she laid down next to her.

"When did you get here?"

"Around 2," Emily said with her eyes closed. "Your dad and I talked last night, ya know." she said, Avery looked at her.

"Really?"

"Mhm." Emily said with a smile. "And I remembered our talk we had a few days ago..." then Emily remembered. "Am I babying you now?" Avery shook her head.

"I was just upset mom... I like talking like this though." she said, Emily smiled.

"Well, we're in the middle of talking about a better arrangement for that so you wont feel so sad about leaving me and not being with him." Emily said, Avery nodded.

"I get that your job isn't like a regular one. But I just wanna say thanks for trying to make me feel as comfortable as possible, and I really am." she told her, Emily smiled.

"I'm glad you are." Emily said as she kissed the back of her head and hugged her tight.

"Hey, mom..." Avery said after a moment of silence.

"Yeah Ave?" Emily asked with her eyes closed.

"Do you still love dad?" she asked, Emily's eyes opened.

"I do still love him, Avery..." she couldn't lie to her about anything. "But I want you to know that nothing will make me love you any less, and I don't want you to jump to any conclusions about anything, okay?"

"I know, mom." Avery said with a smile.

"Food, food, food!" Henry said as he ran into the kitchen, Avery laughed and ran after him, Emily sat up and raised her eyebrows as JJ smiled at her, standing in the doorway.

"Where you there the whole time?" Emily asked, JJ smiled.

"I poured them some cereal.." JJ said as she walked over and handed her a cup of coffee, Emily smiled at her.

"I can tell, Does Henry wake up every morning chanting 'food'?" Emily asked, JJ laughed.

"Not every morning. It's either him changing 'food' or he's being a pain in the ass." she said, Emily laughed as she blew on the coffee before taking a sip. "Wanna talk about what happened last night?" JJ asked, Emily looked to make sure Henry and Avery were both preoccupied, she nodded.

"I told him how I felt..." she said as she put the mug down, JJ smiled. "I told him I never stopped loving him..." Emily was trying to absorb what happened. "He says he feels the same way, I wasn't expecting it at all JJ... if I were him I would have wanted _nothing _to do with me... but he feels the same way.." JJ smiled and rubbed her arm.

"I'm so proud of you Em." JJ said with a smile. "What happened after that?" she asked.

"I told him about mine and Jack's talk, and some of what Avery said... then we kinda just kissed.." she said, JJ's eyes widened.

"You what?" she asked.

"Kissed," Emily said with a smile. "I don't know, Jayje.. it just happened... it was just a little kiss, but it felt so right... like magic.. is that really cliché?"

"Yes," JJ said. "And so is the word 'cliché'." she said, then they heard something fall onto the ground, followed by the noise of some stuff spilling and the sound of a bowl twirling around the floor.

"Avery did it!" Henry screamed.

"Did not!" Avery screamed back.

"MOM!" Henry said, JJ rolled her eyes and stood up as she put the cup on the table, Emily laughed to herself.

"That kiss may have been little, but it's the little things that count." JJ said as she walked over to the kitchen. Emily put the coffee cup down.

"_The Little Things_..." Emily repeated to herself before getting up and following JJ into the kitchen.

**Well. That is it.. the ending might kinda sound crappy or whatever, but I like it. I hope you guys do too. Please review and watch out for a new fic!**


	36. Chapter 36: Trailer

The Little Things - Trailer

**I really wanted to post this trailer... you guys should really check it out! IT's for this story and the wonderful 'Energis121' made it for me!**

http:/www . youtube . com /watch?v=IktbdK_FzWM

**Just remove the spaces!**


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